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MEMOIR 

OF 

THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS 

or 
READ, MARCH 16, 1827, 

IN TUG 

CAPITOL, IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, 

AT THE REaUEST OF 



AND PLBLISHED BY THEIR ORDER. 



BY WILLIAM CRANCH. 



"^^of 



<^(ts of Sisaasljdtiiton: 

S. A. ELLIOT, PRINTER, ELEVENTH STREET, 
NEAR r)EW5STLVA?IIA AVEHirE, 



I/) 1827^ 

A 



'!^'s| lL> 



- OSS 



MEMOIR 



THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS 



30HK aDa^vi^. 



Mr. President, and 

Gentlemen of the Columbian Institute : 

Individual character is formed more by example than 
precept. 

Our Creator has graciously given us the faculty of 
judging between moral right and wrong; and has dis- 
posed us to approve the one, and disapprove the other. 

We perceive that a majority of our fellow-men form 
the same judgment upon the same actions, and give their 
confidence to him who does well, and refuse it to him 
who does ill. That confidence is, to him who enjoys it, 
the source of influence, power, prosperity, and happiness ; 
and we are naturally led to inquire by what means he 
acquired it, that we also, if possible, may, by the like 
means, obtain the same happiness. 

Hence arises the interest we take in the biography of 
illustrious men. Hence, also, the benefit of their example. 

In an Institution, whose object is the promotion of the 
arts and sciences, it is peculiarly proper that some notice 
should be preserved of the life, character, and writings, 
of those philosophers and patriots who have largely con- 
tributed to the same object. 

Into the science of government, into the foundations of 
political society, and of the rights of man, whether in his 



natural or social state, no man searched deeper than the 
late venerable JOHN ADAMS, of Quincy, one of the 
honorary members of this Institute. 

To appreciate, justly, the patriotic labors of our Revo- 
lutionary characters, it is necessary to take a rapid retro- 
spect of the state of the country at the time they com- 
menced their career of toil and glory j and to ascertain, if 
we can, how far their predecessors had advanced in assert- 
ing those principles which led to the ultimate Independ- 
ence of the American Colonies. 

Before our ancestors first visited America, the English 
barons had, in some measure, circumscribed the royal 
prerogative, and had, for themselves and for the people, 
extorted, from successive monarchs, reluctant acknow- 
ledgments, in the form of grants, of rights essential to 
the enjoyment of personal and civil liberty. 

They found it necessary, for their own security, to 
suffer the people to participate in the sovereign power ; 
especially in regard to the levying of money. For, if the 
king could raise money from the people, at his will, he 
could, at any time, subdue the barons ; and, for the same 
reason, they also found it necessary to retain, in their 
own hands, a negative upon the power of the commons 
to grant subsidies to the king. 

The king also found it necessary for his own protec- 
tion to retain a veto upon both lords and commons. 

It was thus that their mutual fears formed a practical 
constitution, which it became their mutual interest to sup- 
port. 

By means of the fears of the nobility, and the wants 
of the crown, the commons had been continually acquir- 
ing power; and, as they acquired power, they became 
proud of their liberty. 

And well might the Englishman, even of that day, 
when he looked round upon his neighbors, boast of his 
freedom. 

The nation, too, had thrown off from its breast that 
incubus, the papal hierarchy, and had begun to breathe 
more freely. 

It is true, that the individuals of the nation had only 
exchanged one hierarchy for another ; but national inde- 



pendence was one step gained towards individual eraan- 
cipation. 

The refurnialion was founded upon the principle, that 
the hvrnan mind is free; and tliat principle once esta- 
blished, no hierarchy could be supported without the aid 
of the civil magistrate. The reformation not only allowed 
men to think, but obliged them to think ; and to reason 
too, in support of the ground they had taken. 

When once an honest mind is seriously engaged in the 
pursuit of truth, it will not voluntarily stop short of its 
object ; and if the object be religious truth, and it find its 
path obstructed by a political barrier, it will examine the 
foundation of that barrier with as much boldness as it 
does that of the religious dogma. 

The principle of the reformation is continually under- 
mining the foundations of the English hierarchy, and 
will ultimately prevail. Truth is constantly gaining, and 
keeps what it gains. Error never recovers what it has 
once lost. 

With the reformation came also the art of printing ; as 
if sent from Heaven to dispel the cloud of superstition 
which had darkened the human mind. A flood of light 
burst upon the world. The mitre, when examined in 
broad day, lost its sanctity ; and the chain its terror. The 
principles of civil and religious freedom began to be un- 
derstood, although little practised. 

Men could see what was abstractly right, while their 
conduct was practically wrong. 

The church and the government, bound by mutual in- 
terest to support each other, influenced a vast majority of 
the people ; and notwithstanding the principle of the refor- 
mation was universal toleration, the spirit of the age was 
religious bigotry. 

Our forefathers of New-England were non-conformists, 
and fled from the fury of ecclesiastical tyranny. Their 
opposition to the English hierarchy commenced almost 
with the reformation itself. They had not only fought 
the battles of protestantism, but had commenced a new 
warfare against episcopacy. 

To use the language of a late writer, " It was not the 
wearing of the surplice, or the kneeling at the altar, that 
they objected to, so much as the authority that would 



impose them, and the danger of the precedent, should 
they once submit to the imposition. It was the bold and 
vigorous stand that they made against arbitrary power; 
their determination to live and to die by the principle, 
that the scriptures are the only authority to be acknow- 
ledged in religious matters, reserving to themselves the 
right of judging what scripture is, and what scripture 
means ; it was their determined and prompt resistance to 
all usurpations over the mind and conscience, in whatever 
shape they might come, and however trivial in their first 
demands; which stamped the character of the men, and 
I may add, the character of the race. It was not their pe- 
culiar opinions, nor their peculiar practices, which they 
transmitted to their descendants ; but what they valued 
more than either, their peculiar spirit." * 

The principle of Independence was interwoven with 
their forms of church government. They held that eve- 
ry congregation of Christians possessed, within itself, all 
ecclesiastical powers and faculties, to be exercised and ap- 
plied according to the will of the majority. They ac- 
knowledged no external or superintending authority, and 
they watched, with searching jealousy, every motion in 
church or state, that threatened the infringement of that 
independence. Upon the question of church government 
and discipline, they were extremely tenacious. Upon 
this point they had grown up in a state of continual war- 
fare ; and had acquired an acuteness of argument, and a 
pertinacity of purpose, which they brought with them to 
this country, and communicated to their descendants. 
They had lived in a country where almost every man's 
hand was against them ; and where they gloried in being 
victims to the cause of truth and liberty. Many of them 
were deeply read in the civil as well as ecclesiastical polem- 
ics of the times, and were equally ardent in both ; and when 
they fled to this country, they sought political, not less 
than religious liberty. They souglit Independence not 
only of church, but of state. It was for this they left 
their native land ; their dearest connexions ; the tombs of 
their fathers ; the graves of their children ; the mild cli- 
mate and the verdant lawns of England, and plunged into 

• " Causes of the ProgresB of Liberal Christianitr in New-England,"— 
Boston, lb26. 



the stormy main — " the world before them" — "Provi- 
dence their guide." 

Compared with mental slavery, the sea had no terrors 
for them ; — they heard not the howling of the storm, or 
the roaring of the surf; the cry of the wild beast, or the 
yell of the savage. 

Would such men as these, after escaping from such 
tyranny ; after encountering such dangers ; after enduring 
such sufferings ; have consented to be dependent upon the 
parliament of Great Britain for their laws ? Would they 
have agreed that the parliament should legislate for them 
in all cases whatsoever? Pass new acts of uniformity for 
them? Establish over them another hierarchy ? Tax them 
to any amount, without (.heir consent ? 

No! — Having encountered every thing but death — 
death, or successful resistance, would have been their 
next resort. 

Independence was brought in the first vessel that 
touched the shore of New England. It was planted in 
the soil. It grew and flourished ; and not a leaf was suf- 
fered to wither. 

The first colony which landed in New England con- 
sisted of a part of the Rev. John Robinson's congrega- 
tion of puritans, who had before been driven, by the 
ecclesiastical tyranny of England, to seek refuge in Hol- 
land. 

On the 11th of November, 1620, before they landed, 
they entered into a written agreement for the government 
of the colony. This was an act of complete independence. 
They were not within the territorial bounds of their pa- 
tent, and had no authority from the crown, or from the 
Plymouth company, to form such an agreement. It was 
the first written constitution which ever spontaneously 
emanated, in America, perhaps in the world, from the 
original source of power — the people. 

Under this government they enjoyed real independence, 
until the vear 1692, when Plymouth was united with 
Massachusetts, under the charter of William and Mary. 

Indeed, so much of self-government, was enjoyed by 
all the colonies, whether under royal charters, or royal 
governments, that they were, in fact, almost independent 



8 

even of the crown, and were, of right, independent of 
parliament. 

It was to the king, and not to parHament, that domi- 
nion accrued in right of discovery, or in right of con- 
quest. Parliament could legislate only for its constituents; 
it could not, upon any constitutional, or common law 
principle, legislate for the king's foreign dominions. To 
the king, and not to parliament, they applied for charters, 
and constitutions of government. The emigrants were 
born under his allegiance, and by birth, as well as by 
compact, were entitled to all the rights, liberties, and pri- 
vileges, of native subjects. 

The king could not, consistently with those rights and 
privileges, legislate for them ; bu-t he could grant them 
the power to legislate for themselves. Their allegiance 
was due to the person of the king, not to his political 
character, as chief magistrate of England or of Great Bri- 
tain. They owed no allegiance to parliament, nor could 
an act of parliament, upon any principle of the constitu- 
tion, or of the common law, operate, as such, out of the 
realm. 

The duty, correlative to allegiance, is protection. That 
duty did not devolve on parliament, but on the king. 

Hence we find no applications made to parliament for 
assistance, support, or protection. No petitions to parlia- 
ment for acts of legislation. No interference of parliament 
between the king and his colonies. No negative reserved 
to parliament, to the acts of the colonial legislatures. No 
appeal from the colonial tribunals of justice to the house 
of lotds. 

The ])ower of annulling their laws, of revising their 
judicial decisions, and of redressing their grievances, was 
reserved to the king in council. 

Among the dearest and most essential rights, privileges 
and liberties, of native Englishmen, and to which the 
colonists were entitled, both by birth and by charter, 
v/as that of being bound by no laws, and of paying no 
taxes, to which they had not assented by their represent- 
atives. The colonists could not, according to the English 
constitution, be represented in parliament ; and the only 
way, in which they could enjoy that privilege, was 
through the medium of a colonial legislature. 



9 

Hence, all the colonies were, either by their charters, 
or by the commissions of their governors, or by tacit ac- 
quiescence, permitted to elect one branch, at least, of 
their local legislatures, and these legislatures had power, 
subject to the royal negative, to pass all laws necessary 
for the government of the respective colonies (not repug- 
nant to the laws of England;) to lay and collect taxes for 
the support of their governments ; to raise troops for their 
defence; to make war and peace with the natives; to 
erect tribunals of justice; and to coin money. 

These almost sovereign powers were exercised, for 
many years, with little or no interruption by parliament. 
It was admitted by the colonies that parliament had 
the right of regulating the trade of the kingdom. 

From the nature of the case, the laws upon that sub- 
ject could not fail to affect the colonies ; and, from the 
necessity of the case, they acquiesced in such laws, but 
generally took care to express their assent by their own 
acts of legislation. 

In the year 1651, during the Commonwealth, and agaia 
in 1660, after the restoration, parliament passed the cele- 
brated Navigation act, and subsequently, other acts of 
trade, by which, among other things, the carrying trade 
of the colonies was intended to be limited to British ships, 
and the whole colonial trade monopolized by Great Bri- 
tain. 

These laws, however, were not rigidly enforced in the 
colonies, and so long as they were confined to the neces- 
sary regulation of trade, were not opposed. Their binding 
effect, however, was supposed to be rather the consequence 
of the assent of the colonies either express or implied, 
than of any obligatory force which they possessed in them- 
selves. 

Parliament, indeed, seems never to have doubted its 
power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever;* but 
to this extent it was never acknowledged by any of the 
colonies. All denied the right to tax them for the pur- 
pose of raising a revenue ; but upon the question of the 
general power of parliament over the colonies, there was 
much diversity of sentiment; an<l for many years the 

• See Note 1, at the end. 



10 

public opinion was unsettled. Indeed, the true principles 
upon which the question ought to be decided, were not 
clearly developed and generally understood, until the 
very eve of the Revolution. It was not until the parlia- 
ment had manifested a disposition to raise a revenue from 
the colonies, without their consent, that they began to 
question its general authority. 

They who first broke ground upon this point found 
themselves embarrassed by the tacit acquiescence of the 
colonies in many acts of parliament respecting their af- 
fairs, and by unguarded admissions made by some of the 
colonial legislatures. These, however, were opposed by 
muck more frequent denials of the right of taxation; 
to the exercise of which right the opposition was, for a 
long time, confuied.* 

The war with France was terminated by the treaty of 
Paris, in 1763. During that war, although Great Britain 
had entertained the idea of raising a revenue in America, 
she thought it prudent to refrain from every thing that 
might irritate the colonies. But, from the moment of 
peace, finding herself almost overwhelmed with the na- 
tional debt, she resumed her project. 

To this she had been stimulated by men, high in office 
in the colonies, who hoped to have the distribution of that 
revenue among themselves and their friends. 

But the colonies themselves were also deeply in debt, 
in consequence of their great exertions in the common 
cause ; and contended that they had contributed their full 
share of the expenses and of the burden of the war. 

Their attachment, however, to their parent state, was 
never stronger than at that moment: and, if ever the 
ministry could hope to succeed in their plans, it was in 
the midst of that enthusiastic attachment, and while the 
colonies were exulting in the glory of Great Britain, in 
which they themselves had so largely participated. 

We have thus taken a glance at the situation of the 
et)lonies at the time Mr. Adams commenced his public 
life ; and have seen that the right of parliament to legis- 
late for the colonies, in any case, had not been expressly 
admitted by any of them ; that the right to tax them for 

• See Note % at tlie cud. 



11 

tlie purpose of raising a revenue, had been expressly and 
uniformly denied by all; and that they had strenuously 
and pertinaciously asserted their rights, while they disa- 
vowed all views of independence, and acknowledged 
unqualified allegiance to the king. 

Although they thus denied all claim to independence, 
yet having so long enjoyed its substantial benefits, their 
claim to the rights which they had so enjoyed, was little 
short of absolute independence. It was, in truth, a claim 
to be independent of parliament, but not of the king. 

Their allegiance to their common king wms the only 
cord which bound them to their parent state. Through 
that organ alone, had they received the little- nutriment 
which had been afforded them in the early stages of their 
existence ; and when they should be fitted to breathe the 
air of independence, it would be only necessary to sever 
that tie. 

The period we are now contemplating, is the peace 
which followed the treaty of Paris, in 1763. 

John Adams was then in his 28th year. He was born 
on the 19th of October, (old style,) in the year 1735, in 
that part of the ancient town of Braintree, in the then 
province of Massachusetts Bay, which has since been 
erected into a separate township, by the name of Quincy, 
and which lies about ten miles south of Boston, on the 
shore of Massachusetts Bay. 

His father, whose name was also John, was the son of 
Joseph, the son of Joseph the son of Henry, who fled 
from Devonshire, in England, with other puritans, about 
the year 1 630. He, (Henry Adams,) was one of the original 
proprietors of the town of Braintree, incorporated in the 
year 1639. Mr. Adams's mother was named Susanna 
Boylston, and was a relative of Doctor Zabdiel Boylston, 
who first introduced into America, and, indeed, into the 
British dominions, the practice of inoculating for the 
small-pox. 

The ancestors of Mr. Adams were substantial yeomen, 
owning the fee simple of their lands, and maintaining 
i;hemselves and their families, in a frugal style, by their 
own labour. 

The subject of this sketch, having, when a boy, dis- 
cbYered a fondness for his books, and a retentive memory, 



his father deternjined to give him a collegiate education; 
and, to prepare him for entrance into Harvard College, 
he was placed under the tuition of Mr. Marsh, a very 
lespectable gentleman, who was also, afterwards, the 
instructor of Mr. Josiah Quincy, who bore so conspicu- 
ous a part in the early contests of the colonies with the 
parent state. 

Mr. Adams received his degree of bachelor of arts 
from the college, in 1755, and of master of arts, in 175S. 
It was the custom in those aristocratic times, instead of 
])lacing the names of the students alphabetical!}^, in their 
class, to place them successively in the order of the sup- 
posed rank or dignity of their parents. The nome of John 
Adams stands in the middle of his class. 

Jt is said that, while at college, he was distinguished 
by great assiduity in his studies, a retentive memory, 
acutenessof reasoning, originality and boldness of thought, 
strength of language, and an openness and honesty of 
character, which could neither assume, nor tolerate dis- 
guise. 

Immediately upon fmishing his collegiate course, he 
began to read law at Worcester, in the office of Colonel 
James Putnam, who is stated, by Mr. Adams himself, 
to have been a gentleman of great acuteness of mind, an 
able lawyer, and having a very extensive and successful 
practice. 

Mr, Adams's spirit of independence would not suffer 
him to be any longer a burden to his father, and, in order 
to pay his expenses while reading law, he kept a school, 
in which he taught the Latin and Greek languages. Here 
commenced an intimate friendship between Mr. Adams 
and ]Vfr. Jonathan Sewall, who was about seven years 
his senior, and who afterwards took the opposite side in 
politics, and became attorney-general of the province, in 
1766. 

.That his thoughts were early turned towards the poli- 
tical state of his country, and her future destiny, we have 
the strongest evidence, in a familiar letter, written by him 
soon after he left college, and just as he was beginning 
the study of the law at Worcester, and v.'hich has for- 
tunately been preserved. 



13 

This letter discovers that keen glance into the future; 
that comprehensive view of the past; that rapidity of 
combination ; that knowledge of the statistics of his coun- 
try ; that originality of thought, and that boldness of 
conception, for which he was remarkable through life. 

No one can fail to discover in it the future statesman. 
It was written a little more than a year after the 4th of 
July, 1754; on which day Washington was captured by 
the French in fort ^' Necessii^ ,'" and Franklin signed the 
plan for a confederation of the stales at Albany ; about 
three' months after the defeat of General Braddock ; and 
during the war with France. The writer was not quite 
twenty years of age. It ia dated at Worcester, on the 
12th of October, 1755. The foUovving is an extract: 

" Soon after the Keformation, a few people came over 
into this new world for conscience' sake. Perhaps this 
apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of 
empire into America ; it looks likely to me ; for, if we 
can remove the turbulent Gallicks, our people, according 
to the exactest computations, will, in another century, 
become more numerous than England herself. Should 
this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval 
stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain 
the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all 
Europe will not be able to subdue us. 

" The only way to keep us from setting up for our- 
selves, is, to disunite us. Divide et irapera. Keep" us in 
distinct colonies ; and then some great men in each colo- 
ny, desiring the monarchy of the whole, they will destroy 
each other's influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. 
Be not surprised that I am turned politician ; the whole 
town is immersed in politics. The interests of nations, 
and all the dira of war, make the subject of every con- 
versation. I sit and hear, and, after having been led 
through a maze of sage observations, I sometimes retire, 
and, by laying things together, form some reflections 
pleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries 
you have read above."* 

Let us now see what those pleasing reflections were. 
That America would become more populous than Eng- 

*Sce Note 3, at the cud. 



land herself. That, as we have all the naval stores of the* 
nation, it would be easy to obtain the mastery of the 
seas, and then the united force of all Europe would not 
be able to subdue us. That we should set up for our- 
selves; and that the great seat of empire would be trans- 
ferred to America. 

What a brilliant view was this, bursting through the 
gloom which then overhung the country ! 

Washington had been captured ; Braddock completely 
defeated ; and the plan of confederation had failed through 
the policy of England, which was to divide and govern. 
Here may be seen the source oi that ardor in the cause 
of America; that inflexible pertinacity of purpose, which 
distinguished him through the whole contest, and enabled 
liim to cheer, encourage, and support, his sometimes al- 
most desponding countrymen in the arduous struggle. 

In 1758, he was introduced by Col. Putnam to Jere- 
miah Gridley, then attorney -general of the province, and 
at the head of the bar. Mr. Gridley, perceiving the 
strength of his mind, admitted him at once to his confi- 
>/ dence, and proposed him to the bar of Suffolk, as a can- 
didate for practice. 

It is said that Mr. Gridley, as a great secret, informed 
Mr. Adams, that his own reputation, as a lawyer, was prin- 
cipally founded upon his acquaintance with the writers 
upon the civil law, recommended them to his attention, 
and offered him the use of his library. Mr. Adams eagerly 
seized the opportunity, and made himself well acquainted 
with all the important principles of that celebrated code. 

He also became a favorite of James Otis, who was af- 
terwards the leading patriot of Massachusetts.* 

Mr. Adams began the practice of the law in the year 
1758, in that part of his native town, now called Quincy. 
/ It is said that he first brought himself into notice, at the 
bar, in the county of Plymouth, by his defence of a pri- 
soner ; and, from that time, he was never in want of pro- 
fitable employment. 

In 1761, he was admitted to the degree of barrister at 
law, and upon the death of his father, came into posses- 
sion of a small landed estate. It was in this year that 

•'fsee Note % at the did. 



16 

ilie opposition to parliamentary taxation began to assume 
a more serious aspect, and to be reduced to principle. 

" Of the determination of the British cabinet to assert 
and maintain the sovereign authority of parliament over 
the colonies, in all cases of taxation and internal policy, 
the first demonstration which arrived in America, was an 
order in council to the officers of the customs in Massa- 
chusetts Bay, to carry into execution the acts of trade, 
and to apply to the supreme judicature of the province 
for writs of assistance, to authorize them to break and 
enter all houses, stores, &c. to search for and seize goods, 
on which the taxes, imposed by those acts, had not been 
paid."* Application was made to the court, at Salem, for 
such a writ, but the court, doubting its constitutionality, 
ordered the question to be argued by counsel, at the Feb- 
ruary term, 1761, in Boston. 

The community was greatly alarmed. The merchants 
qf Salem and Boston applied to Mr. Otis to defend them 
against that formidable instrument of arbitrary power. H6 
engaged in their cause ; but, considering it the cause of 
his country, he not only refused their fees, but resigned 
the lucrative office of advocate-general in the court of 
admiralty, that he might argue the cause with perfect 
freedom. 

Those acts of trade had remained a half century, and 
some of them a whole century, unexecuted ; " and there 
never was a time," says Mr. Adams, in a letter to Mr* 
Tudor, " when they would have been, or could have been 
obeyed." 

No one can read Mr. Adams's account of Mr. Otis's 
argument, without believing with him, " that it breathed 
into this nation the breath of life ;" and, "that American 
Independence was then and there born."t 

Mr. Adams needed no one to breathe into him the 
breath of life. The spirit which had moved over the wa- 
ters, had come to him. Like Columbus, he had seen id 
vision, the future glory of his country ; the flame of in- 
dependence had been lighted in his soul, and the speecli 

* Mr. Adams' letter, I4th January, 1819, in Niles' Register. 

+ See his letters to Mr. Tudor, published in 1819, with the paippWets,' 

■J^ovang-lus and JH(i^mchn$etterms, p. 231, and 24&. 



16 

Qf Mr. Otis could only add new fuel to the fire which 
was already so ardent in his own hosom. 

From the year 1761 to 1765, Mr. Adams was engaged 
with his professional pursuits, although it is probable that, 
during that period, he occasionally contributed to the 
newspaper essays in favor of the rights of the colonies, 
with which the press, at that time, abounded. 

In 1764, he married Abigail Smith, the second 
daughter of the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, (the 
town next south of Braintree) and grand-daughter of Col. 
Quincy, of Mount Wollaston, in remembrance of whom 
the town of Quincy was named. 

Mrs. Adams derived from her ancestors, who were 
among the most learned of their age, a taste for polite lite- 
rature, and had received a mental education, far superior 
to the female instruction then common in New England ; 
and she possessed a soul as elevated and ardent in the 
cause of her country, as that of her husband. She had 
also a coolness of judgment, a self-command, and a sua- 
vity of manner, which often imperceptibly guided and 
tempered the workings of his mighty mind. During his 
absence, which, with a very short interval in 1779, was 
from 1777 to 1785, she conducted his affairs with great 
prudence and judgment ; and, during that period, main- 
tained a very extensive correspondence, which, if it should 
ever see the light, will do no less honor to her intelligence 
than to her patriotism. 

In 1765, Mr. Adams published, in the Boston Gazette, 
some pieces under the title of " Jin Essay on Canon 
and Feudal Law.'''' They were re-printed in London, in 
1768, by Mmon, with the title of ".^ Dissertation on 
the Canon and Feudal Laiv,^^ and were then attributed 
to Mr. Gridley, the attorney-general of the province of 
Massachusetts Bay ; and were said, by the friends of the 
colonies, to be among " the very finest productions ever 
seen from North America."* 

The object of the writer was not to elucidate the prin- 
ciples of the canon or the feudal law, but to hold them 
up to Americans as objects of abhorrence ; to show the 
conspiracy between church and state, to oppress the peo- 

* See Note 5, at flie end. 



17 

pie ; and hence to take occasion to inculcate the genuine 
principles of freedom ; to prove that the only legitimate 
foundation of all government is the will and happiness of 
the people ; to rouse America to the assertion of her 
rights, and to prepare her for maintaining them by force, 
if force should be necessary* 

Speaking of the rights of the people, he uses this bold and 
energetic language,-^" I say rights ; for such they have, 
undoubtedly, antecedent to all earthly government; — 
rights, that cannot be repealed or restrained by human 
laws ; — rights, derived from th« great Legislator of the 
Universe." Alluding to the p-^fuggle by the people against 
the confederacy of temporal and spiritual power in the 
times of the Stuarts, he says — " It was this great struggle 
that peopled America. It was not religion alone, as has 
been generally supposed ; but it was a love of universal 
liberty, and an hatred, a dread, an horror of the infernal 
confederacy before described, that projected, conducted 
and accomplished, the settlement of America. It was a 
resolution formed by a sensible people, I mean the puri- 
tans, almost in despair." 

" The leading men among them were men of sense and 
learning. To many of them, the historians, orators, 
poets, and philosophers of Greece and Rome were quite 
familiar." — " Religious to some degree of enthusiasm, it 
may be admittf^^ they were ; but this can be no peculiar 
derog-acion f/om their character, because it was, at that 
time, almost the universal character not only of Eng- 
land, but of Christendom." 

" Tyranny in every form, shape, and appearance, was 
their disdain and abhorrence. 

" No fear of punishment, — not even death itself ^V^ ex- 
quisite tortures, had been sufficient to conquer that stea- 
dy, manly, pertinaceous spirit, with which they had op- 
posed the tyrants of those days in church and state." 

" They saw clearly that popular powers must be placed 
as a guard, a controul, a balance, to the powers of the 
monarch and the priest, in every government, or it would 
soon become a great and detestible system of fraud, vio- 
lence and usurpation." 

" They knew that government was a plain, simple, 
iotelligen-t thing, founded in nature, and reason, and quite 



IS 

comprehensible by common sense." "Rulers arc no 
more than attorneys, agents and trustees for the people ; 
and if the cause, the interest, the trust are insidiously be- 
trayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right 
to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed 
and to constitute better and abler agents, attorneys and 
trustees." 

Alluding to the British ministry, and to the indignities 
which the colonies had suffered, he says : 

" Believe me, my countrymen, they have imbibed an 
opinion on the ohter side of the water, that we are an ig- 
norant, a timid, and a stupid people ; nay, their tools on 
this side, have often the impudence to dispute your 
bravery. But I hope in God the time is near at hand, 
when they will be fully convinced of your understandings, 
integrity and courage.' ' 

These few passages have Wn selected rather on ac- 
count of the sentiments they contain, than as samples of 
the spirit of the essay. 

He goes on to rouse his countrymen to opposition to 
the arbitrary acts of parliament, in a strain of fervid elo- 
quence, excited, if not kindled by thai " flame of fire," 
which lighted up the soul of his Hend Otis in the argu- 
ment against writs of assistance. 

It is impossible to read this essay without admiring the 
boldness, the strength, and the energy, wiib which it was 
written, and without perceiving that the writer was 
far in advance of his countrymen in the pursuit of Inde- 
pendence. 

On the 18th of December, 1765, a memorial from the 
tovra of Boston was presented to the governor, praying 
that the courts, which had been shut in consequence of 
this opposition to tlie stamp-act, might be again opened ; 
and Mr. Adams, was employed as counsel, with Mr. 
Oridley and Mr. Otis, to support the memorial before the 
governor and council. The courts were, soon after, 
opened. 

In 1765, Mr. Adams removed to Boston, where he 
could attend more conveniently to his then extensive 
practice, and mingle more intimately with his co-patriots, 
Gridley, Thacher, Otis, Samuel Adams, Gushing, Han- 
cock, Quincy, Mayhew, Cooper, Chauncey, the War- 



19 

rens, Lovell, Paine, Worthlngton, Hawley ; and a host of 
others not less ardent in the cause of freedom. 

The crown officers of the province were in hopes that 
the patriotism of Mr Adams had its price ; and in 176S, 
offered him, through liis friend Sewall, the office of advo- 
cate-general, in the court of admiralty, then the most 
profitable place in the gift of the governor, and that which 
led most directly to the highest provincial honors in the 
gift of the crown. This office, Mr. Adams, in his preface 
to the late edition of Novanglus, in 1819, says, he "de- 
cidedly and peremptorily, though respectfully, refused." 

In 1769, he was chairman of the committee of the town 
of Boston, who reported the instructions to their repre- 
sentatives to resist the arbitrary measures of the British 
government. When those instructions were drawn up, an 
armament by sea and land invested tliat metropolis ; and 
a military guard surrounded the state-house, with cannon 
pointed at the very door. Both houses of parliament, by 
very large majorities, had approved the conduct of the 
king; assured him of effectual support; and had prayed 
him to cause prosecution? to be instituted, within the 
realm, against all who had committed treason, in Massa- 
chusetts, since the year 1767, agreeably to the act of par- 
liament of the 35th of Henry VIII. 

The instructions from the town of Boston, no doubt, 
assisted in giving pungency and force to the strong reso- 
lutions subsequently adopted by the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, which, together with those instructions, were 
the immediate occasion of the order to the governor to 
withdraw the provincial garrison from the castle, and to 
replace it with regular troops, in the pay of the crown. 
Those instructions also constituted one of the specific 
charges against the colony reported by the committee of 
the lords of council for the plantation affairs, to the lords 
of council on the 6th of July, 1770. 

In that year, (1770,) a circumstance occurred, calculated 
to test the firmness of Mr. Adams. He had, hitherto, 
exerted all his talents to rouse the people to a just sense 
of their rights, and to stimulate them to their de- 
fence, at all hazards. He had assisted in exciting a spirit 
which he was now called upon to control, and to allay 
passions which he had assisted to kindle. He was now to 



20 

breast the storm, which he had, not designedly, contribu- 
ted to raise. 

The irritations between the soldiery and the people had 
at length proceeded to insult and violence, which resulted 
in the death of several of the citizens who were tired 
upon by a party of soldiers under the command of Capt. 
Preston, on the 5th of March, 1770. 

The offending soldiers were given up to the civil au- 
thority for trial, and Mr. Adams was called upon, by 
Captain Preston, to undertake their defence, assisted by 
Mr. Josiah Quincy, and Mr. Sampson S. Blowers. The 
people were exasperated, almost to a state of madness. 
He had been accustomed to stand before the " vultus in- 
stantis tyrannif^ he was now called upon to oppose the 
^' civium ardor prava jubentium." Firm, and tenacious 
of his purpose, his mind was not shaken by the popular 
clamor. 

He saw that the honor of his country was at stake, and 
he rejoiced in the opportunity- of showing to the worlds 
that the cause of America did not depend upon a tempo- 
rary excitement, which could stifle the voice of justice f 
but upon the sober, steady, persevering, determination of 
the people to support their rights. He and his friend 
Quincy were then among the nost popular members of 
the bar ; and the opinion entertained of their integrity 
by the opposite party, could not have been more clearly 
evinced, than by thus selecting them as counsel for the 
supposed victims of popular indignation. The counsel 
managed the cause with great ability, and satisfied a 
jury, taken from amidst the exasperated multitude, that 
it was a case of jjstifiable homicide.* 

Nothing aided the American cause more than this re- 
markable triumph of law and justice over the passions of 
the moment ; and the counsel for the prisoners lost noth- 
ing of their popularity by thus vindicating the justice of 
their country. On tlie contrary, Mr. Adams was, at the 
next election, in May, 1770, for the first time, chosen 
one of the representatives of the town of Boston, in the 



* Captain Preston was acquitted on the 29tU of October. The eight sol- 
diers were tried on the 8th of December. Six of them were acquitted, anrl 
two found guilty of manslaughter, only. Those two were sligUUy braj\de(J 
and discharged. ' . *"* 



21 

general assembly. Here he supported that stern repub- 
lican, the elder Adams, in all those high toned measures 
of opposition which, excluded the latter from the general 
pardon afterwards offered by the British governinent. 
He was on the committee who reported the message from 
the House of Representatives to the lieutenant governor, 
on the 31st of May, 1770, remonstrating against the re- 
moval of the general court from Boston to Cambridge ; 
and on other committees who were afterwards appointed 
upon tlie same subject ; and when after a long contest be- 
tween the lieutenant governor and the House of Repre- 
sentatives, the House determined, under protest, to pro- 
ceed to business, Mr. Adams voted in the negative. He 
was also on many other committees who reported some 
of the most important state papers of the time. 

In 1773, the ministerial regulation, for paying the sala- 
ry of the judges, which rendered them wholly dependent 
on the crown, was the occasion of an able discussion in 
the pubHc papers between Mr. Adams and Mr. William 
Brattle, a member of the council. Mr. Adams's essays 
were written with great learning and strength of argu- 
ment, and tended much to enlighten the public mind on a 
question of great importance. They were published un- 
der his proper signature, in the Boston Gazette, in Febru- 
ary, 1773, and subjected him to the displeasure of govern- 
or Hutchinson, who, when Mr. Adams was elected into 
the council in the following month of May, put his ne- 
gative upon the choice. 

In 1774, he was again rejected by governor Gage. He 
was one of the committee of the town of Boston, who drew 
up the celebrated resolutions, on the Boston-port-bill, which 
demonstrated to the world that the more the people of 
that devoted town were pressed the more elastic they be- 
came ; and that their spirit could not be broken. It was 
in times like those that his value was felt and acknowl- 
edged. Through all the gloom he could still see the light 
by which to steer his course. The vision of his youth- 
was still before his eyes. 

On the 17th of June, 1774, governor Gage dissolved 
the last general assembly which was holden under the 
charter. While the door of the House of Representatives 
was locked, to exclude the governor's secretary, who was 



m 

waiting to dissolve the assembly, they passed a resolution 
to appoint a committee to meet other committees from 
other colonies, to consult upon their common interests ; 
and Mr. Thomas Gushing, Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. .lohn 
Adams, and Mr. Robert Treat Paine were elected, to 
meet at Philadelphia on the 4th of the following Septem- 
ber. Other colonies pursued the same course, and these 
committees formed the first continental Congress of the 
Revolution. 

It was in this year, and after Mr. Adams had been 
elected to that congress, that a final separation took place 
between him and his former friend, Mr. Jonathan Sewall. 
Although they had professedly taken opposite sides of the 
contest, their friendship and confidential intercourse had 
continued up to that time, when they both attended the 
superior court at Falmouth, now Portland. In the course 
of a morning walk, which Mr. Sewall had invited, he be- 
gan to remonstrate with Mr. Adams against his going to 
congress. He said, that Great Britain was determined on 
her system : that her power was irresistable, and would cer- 
tainly be destructive to him, and all who should persevere 
in opposition to her designs. The reply of Mr. Adams 
was, " I know that Great Britain has determined on her 
system ; and that very determination, determines me on 
mine. You know that I have been const^int and uniform 
in opposition to all her measures. The die is now cast; 
I have passed the Rubicon ; swim or sink — live or die — 
survive or perish, with my country, is my unalterable 
determination." 

The conversation was terminated by Mr. Adams say- 
ing to his friend, " I see we must part ; and with a bleed- 
ing heart I say, I fear forever. But you may depend up- 
on it, this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever sat 
my foot." 

This anecdote shows what manner of man he was. His 
heart was his friend's, but his whole soul was his coun- 
try's. 

On the 5th of Sept. 1774, the first congress met at 
Philadelphia. Mr. Adams was found in his place, and 
was appointed upon several of the most important com- 
mittees, particularly that which stated the rights of the 
colonies, and that which prepared the address to the king. 



53 

The acts of that congress have long since pronounced its 
eulogy. — On his return to Massachusetts he found that his 
friend Sewall had sought protection under cover of the 
British army, and was publishing a series of essays, un- 
der the signature " Massachusettensis,'" written with 
great address, and which the governmental party consid- 
ered as a triumphant vindication of their cause. Mr. 
Adams immediately entered the lists with him, under the 
name " Novanglus,'' and published his first number on 
the 23d of January, 1775, in the Boston Gazette. 

This controversy, between the two champions of their 
respective parties, gives a complete idea of all the causes 
of dispute between Great Britain and the colonies ; and 
the argument of Mr. Adams, although prematurely closed 
by the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of April; and al- 
though several numbers which had been prepared for the 
press were lost or destroyed in the confusion consequent 
upon that event, contains the clearest and most complete 
vindication of the American cause which had then been 
published.* 

In 1775, it became necessary to appoint a commander in 
chief of the continental army. General Ward, of Massa- 
chusetts, was then at the head of the troops before Boston ; 
and in conference among the members of the Massachu- 
setts delegation in congress it is said they were all, except 
Mr. John Adams, of opinion that he ought to be elected. 
Mr. Adams, however, was strongly in favor of Colonel 
George Washington, then a delegate in Congress from 
Virginia ; and, when the conference ended, declared that 
Col. Washington should be nominated. Accordingly, on 
the next day, he was, at the request of Mr. Adams, nomi- 
nated by Mr. Johnson, of Maryland ; and on the 15th of 
June unanimously elected. How far that event contribu- 
ted to the accomplishment of the great object of the 
struggle, is known to all the world. 

Mr. Adams was on the committee to prepare the com- 
mission and instructions for the commander in chief, 
which, in the then circumstances of the colonies, still ac- 
knowledging allegiance to the king, was a matter of much 
eonsideration and delicacy. 

* See Note 6, at Qie end. 



M 

In 1776, he was appointed chief justice of the Slate of 
Massachusetts ; ' but believing that he could be of more 
service to the cause of his country, by remaining in con- 
gress, he declined the office. 

On the 6th of May, in the same year, he moved, in 
congress, the resolution, which was a virtual declaration 
of independence, recommending to all the colonies, which 
had not already established governments, suited to the 
exigency of their affairs, to adopt such government as 
would in the opinion of the representatives of the people, 
best conduce to the happiness and safety of their con- 
stituents in particular, and America in general. This 
resolution was passed on the 1 5th of May ; and on the 
7th of June, Mr. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, who 
had been selected for that purpose by the friends of the 
measure, moved, and Mr. Adams seconded, that solemn 
resolution, whose boldness astonished the world, "That 
these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent States; that they are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British Crown ; and that all political 
connexion between them and the State of Great Britain, 
is, and of right ought to be, totally dissolved." This re- 
solution was debated from the 7th to the 10th of June, 
and its further consideration postponed to the 1st of July. 

On the 11th of June, a committee was appointed to 
draw up a provisional declaration, or manifesto, to accom- 
pany the resolution and to announce to the world the step 
which they had thus determined to take, and the reasons 
for ih-t determination. That commmittee was elected by 
ballot, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Liv- 
ingston. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were appointed 
a sub-committee to draft the instrument. Mr, Adams, 
knowing Mr. Jefferson's fine talent for writing, insisted 
upon his doing it, and he finally consented. The origin- 
al draft, in Mr. Jefferson's hand writing, with some tri- 
fling interlineations in the hand writing of Mr. Adams 
and of Doctor Franklin, has been preserved. The small 
alterations which were afterwards made in congress, tend- 
ed to soften some of its features, and to accommodate it to 
the views of some portion of the states ; but they were not, 
m the opinion of Mr. Adains; amendments. He thought 



as 

it better in the form in which it came frqsh from the hand 
of Mr. Jefferson. 

Mr. Lee's resolution, having been again debated on 
the 1st and 2d of July, was, on the latter day, adopted. 
The Act of Congress, containing: the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, was debated on the 2d, 3d, and 4th of July, on 
xvhich last day it was passed. On the IGth it was order- 
ed to be engrossed and signed by every member of con- 
gress, which was done on the 2d of August by those who 
were then present, and afterwards by such as were then 
absent ; or were elected and took their seats in the course 
of that year. 

It is believed that in debate upon the subject of Inde- 
pendence, Mr Adams had no equal. That opinion was 
uniformly expressed by the illustrious author of the de- 
claration. " John Adams," said he, " was our Colossus 
on the floor. Not graceful, not elegant, not always fluent! 
in his public addresses, he yet came out with a power both 
of thought and expression, which moved us from out 
seats."* 

He was master of every topic connected with the sub* 
ject. Nothing in history, or the law of nature, or of 
nations, escaped him. He understood human nature, and 
penetrated the motives of human action, lie knew the 
resources and spirit of his country, and tne policy and 
temper of foreign governments. He broKght all these to 
bear upon the subject, and beat down ev^ry obstacle. 

Nor had he lost sight of the deligli.'lul vision of his 
youth. On the 3d of July, the day afler the adoption of 
Mr. Lee's resolution, with what exultation did he writo 
to her who participated in every feeling of his soul; — 
" Yesterday, the greatest question was cedded, that was' 
ever decided among men. A resolutioi was passed una- 
nimously, " Thai these United States are, and of right 
ought to he, free and independent states.'^ " The day 
is past. The 2d of July, 1776, will be a memorable 
epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it 
will be celebrated by succeeding gererations as the great 
ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL. It ought to be commemo* 
rated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devo- 



* Mr. Webster's discourse in coirnnemorntion of the lives and sei-vior-sol" 
!!()hn Adams and Thomas J<;fl'cr30D, — A'i,qi!«t 2, ISSfi'j 
4 



i>6 

tion to the Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized 
with pomps, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, 
and illuminations— from one end of the continent to the 
other — from this time forever. 

*' You will think me transported with enthusiasm ; but 
I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and 
treasure it will cost to maintain this declaration, and sup- 
port and defend these states. Yef, through all the gloom, 
I can see a ray of light and glory. I can see that the 
end is worth more than all the means ; and that posterity 
will triumph, although you and I may rue; which I hope 
we shall not." 

Such a letter, so free from the suspicion of having been 
written ybr effect, could only have been written by one 
whose whole soul was engaged in the cause. 

Although not " transported," yet he had certainly 
pursued the object " ivith enthusiasm ;^^ and, as he him- 
self had said, ten years before, " no great enterprise for 
the honor and happiness of mankind was ever achieved 
without a large mixture of that noble infirmity."* But 
it is not so remarkable for its enthusiastic exultation, as 
for its prophetic spirit. Through all the gloom he saw 
that ray tf light, which cheered and animated him through 
the whole ",ontest. His hopes were fixed upon a solid 
base ; and, a\ihough the waves of revolution were rolling 
round him, " Eternal sunshine settled on his head " 

On the 13th cf June, 1776, Mr. Adams was appointed 
Chairman of the Board of War, and continued in that im- 
portant and laborious office until he was appointed a com- 
missioner to France, in November, 1777. In the mean 
time, however, he was on many other important commit- 
tees; particularly on that which prepared the plan of 
treaties, to be proposed to foreign powers; on that which 
prepared letters ftf credence and of instruction to the 
commissioners wh\) should be authorized to negociate 
those treaties ; and on that which was sent to meet lord 
Howe, on Staten Isl&nd.t 

Mr. Silas Deane, \Vho was a commissioner, with Doct. 
Franklin and Mr. Arthur Lee, at the Court of Versailles, 

* Essa}' on Canon and Feudal LaAV. 
t See Note 7, at Uiceivl. 



27 

having been recalled, Mr. Adams was, on the 28th of 
November, 1777, appointed in his place. In February, 
1778, he embarked on board the Boston frigate, from 
the shore of his native town, near the foot of Mount 
Wollaston. The treaties of commerce and of alliance 
with France were signed before Mr. Adams arrived. In 
October, 1778, Doct. Franklin was appointed Minister 
Plenipotentiary to that Court, whereby the powers of the 
commissioners were superseded, and Mr. Adams return- 
ed to the United States, in July or August, 1779.* Up- 
on his return, he was immediately elected a member of 
the convention to form a constitution of government for 
his native state ; and was appointed by the sub-commit- 
tee to make a draft of a project for a constitution, to be 
laid before the convention. The general construction of 
the constitution, particularly the division and distribution 
of power, and the clause respecting the duty of govern- 
ment to protect literature and the arts and sciences, were 
his. Before the constitution was completed, and within 
three months after his return from France, he received 
from Congress, on the 4th of November, two commis- 
sions ; one appointing him sole Minister Plenipotentiary 
to treat for peace ; the other to form a commercial treaty 
with Great Britain. On the 17th of November, he cm- 
barked on board the French frigate Sensible. After a 
perilous voyage, he was obliged to land at Corunna, in 
Spain, on the shore of the Bay of Biscay, and travel over 
the mountains to Paris, where he arrived in February, 
1780. 

He found the French court quite jealous of his com- 
mission to form a treaty of commerce with Great Britain ; 
and the count de Vergennes advised him to keep it se- 
cret; with a view, no doubt, to attempt to prevail on 
congress to revoke it. Mr. Adams refused to communi- 
cate to the count his instructions on that subject. He per- 
ceived that the French court wished to keep the United 
States as dependent as possible upon France; and was 
jealous of every attempt on our part to obtain assistance 
from other powers. A pretty sharp altercation took place 
between Mr. Adams and the count, in respect to a claim 

» Sec Note 8, at tlic end. 



28 

Set up by France, that, when congress called in the old 
continental paper money at forty for one, a discrimination 
ought to liave been made in favor of the French holders 
of that paper. The count complained to congress, and 
transmitted copies of JNIr. Adams's letters. The French 
minister in the United States endeavored to obtain his 
recall, but without success. Congress, on the 12th of De- 
cember, 1780, passed a vote of approbation ;* and, on the 
f)th of June, 1781, refused to join any person with Mr. 
Adams in the negotiation. But, after the Frencli minis- 
ter had held a conference with a committee of congress, 
they reconsidered their vote of the 9th of June, and on 
the 13th added Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, Mr. Laurens, and 
Mr. Jefferson, to the commission to treat for peace ; and 
so altered their instructions as to bind them hand and 
foot to the will of France. 

While these intrigues were going on in the United 
States, Mr. Adams, thinking he could serve his country 
better in Holland than in France, went to Amsterdam in 
August, 1780, and soon afterwards received a commission 
to negotiate a loan. The Dutch people are at all times 
slow, and hard to be moved ; and it must have seemed 
an almost desperate project to borrow money for the use 
of revolted colonies, at open war with the most powerful 
maritime nation in the world ; without credit ; without 
revenue ; and without even the nominal power of raising 
a revenue by their own authorit3\ Mr. Adams was a 
Stranger, ignorant of the language of the country, and 
opposed by the whole influence of the British government, 
at that time represented by Sir Joseph York, who had 
resided there twenty-seven years, and who must have 
known the means by which that influence could be brought 
lo bear most powerfully upon the nation, and its govern- 
ment. He had to contend also with the power and influ- 
ence of ihe Prince of Orange ; and, what may seem more 
strange, with the influence and intrigues of France herself, 



•"Tuesday, December 12, 17^0, Cocsrrcss took into consideration tlie 
report of tlie' i-onimittee on the letter of June 2Gth, from the Hon. .Tohn 
Adams, whereupon, Ordered, That the said letter be j-eftrred to tlic coiu- 
miti.ec of foreign affairs; and that tliey be instructed to inform Mr. Adams 
of the satisfaction which con^-ess receive from liis industrious attention lo 
the inteints and honor of diese United States, abroad, especially in the ttans- 
aetious comjnuniQated to them by t|iat leltLT." 



29 

the professed friend and acknowledged ally of the United 
States. She knew that the more friends we made, the 
less dependent we should be upon her, and the lesb would, 
be her influence in the American councils. 

He found the people of all classes in Holland, perfectly- 
ignorant of the aifairs of the United States, and set him- 
self to work, at once, to enlighten them upon that subject. 
He sought, and found, menof liberal sentiments, friends 
of freedom and of the rights of man, whose minds kin- 
kled with the view which Mr. Adams presented to them 
of the wrongs of America ; of her struggle for inde- 
pendence; of her present resources; and of her future 
greatness. But he was obliged to proceed with great cir- 
cumspection; to feel his way along in the dai'k ; and to 
learn the interests, characters, and connexions of the lead- 
ing men. He had scarcely acquired this information when 
the conduct of the British ministry enabled him to work 
more boldly. The contempt, insolence, and violence, 
with which the whole Belgic nation was treated, in con- 
sequence of their accession to the armed neutrality, and 
the discovery of a secret agreement which had been en- 
tered into between Mr. William Lee, the American com- 
missioner at Berlin, and the regency of Amsterdam, for a 
plan of a treaty of commerce and amity, gave Mr. Adams 
great advantages over Sir Joseph York, and he availed 
himself of his rival's rashness and impetuosity with great 
coolness and effect. 

Mr. Adams had read some historical writings of Mr. 
Cerisier, with which he was pleased, and which indicated 
him to be a man of the character he was seeking. He 
made a journey into the country to see him, and was not 
disappointed. Mr, Adams spent several days with him, 
and they became quite intimate. Mr. Cerisier set up a 
political gazette, called " Le Politique Ilollandois,'* de- 
cidedly favorable to the American cause; and of which, 
as well as of the Lpyden Gazette, edited by Mr. Luzac, 
Mr. Adams availed himself, to throw before the people 
of Holland the information he wished to convey. 

Mr. Adams happened to dine in company with Mr. 
Kalkoen, an eminent jurist of Amsterdam. Mr. Kal- 
koen appeared to be quite ignorant of thfe affairs of 
America, but put some shrewd questions to Mr. Adams,. 



30 

which he answered as Avell as his imperfect know- 
ledge of the language, in which they conversed, would 
permit. Mr. Kalkoen was much gratified, and before 
they parted, it was agreed that he should send Mr. Adams 
a set of queries, which he would answer in writing. 

This produced a series of twenty-six letters from Mr. 
Adams to Mr. Kalkoen, in October, 17S0, containing an 
account of the rise and progress of the dispute with great 
Britain ; and of the resources, spirit, and prospects of the 
United States. 

These were published ; and Mr. Kalkoen himself pub- 
lished some essays, drawing a comparison between the 
etfort then making by the United States, and that, former- 
ly made by the seven United Provinces, which enventu- 
ated in their Independence : and contended, that as it 
was a miracle that the latter succeeded, it would be a still 
greater miracle if the former should not. 

These writings had a wonderful effect upon the people 
of Holland ; and the American cause soon became 
popular. The accession of Holland to the armed neu- 
trality on the 27th of November, 1780, and the discovery 
of the negociation between Mr. Lee and Mr. Van Berckel 
the pensionary of Amsterdam, for a treaty of amity and 
commerce, (which was nobly avowed by Mr. Van Berckel 
and justified by the city of Amsterdam, although disavowed 
by the states general) produced a rupture between En- 
gland and Holland, on the 21st of December, 1780. 

Mr, Adams was indefatigable in collecting and diffus- 
ing correct information ; in counteracting the intrigues of 
the British and French courts ; in communicating impor- 
tant information to Congress ; and in encouraging and sti- 
mulating his countrymen to persevere in the glorious 
cause. He saw, with regret, a disposition in America 
to lean too much upon France ; and, in every movement 
of France, a desire to increase that dependence. His en- 
deavors to render his country less dependent on that 
power, drew upon him the displeasure of the French 
court, and increased their disposition to render his mis- 
sion abortive, that he might become unpopular at home. 

In all his correspondence, he urged upon his country- 
men the necessity of relying more on their own rescource's 



31 

and strength, and less upon foreign aid, tliat they might 
become independent in fact, as well as in name. 

In a letter to Dr. Franklin, of the 17th of August, 
17S0, he says : " It is to be hoped, that our countrymen, 
instead of amusing themselves any longer with pleasing 
dreams, will bend the whole force of their minds to aug- 
ment a navy ; to find out their own strength and resources, 
and to depend on themselvesP 

On the 23d, in a letter to congress, he says : " If she 
(America) were to be deserted by all the world, she 
ought seriously to maintain her resolution to be free. 
She has the means ivithin herself. Her greatest mis- 
fortune is, that she has never yet felt her full strength, 
nor considered the extent of her resources.'' 

In a letter to Dr. Franklin, on the 14th of October, 
1780, he says: " We may, and ive shall, wade through, 
even if we cannot obtain a loan." " The genuine system of 
American policy is — peace and commerce with all na- 
tions — alliances with none." 

In a letter to Mr. Jennings, of the 27th of October, 
1780, he says : " Reconciliation and peace are but dreams 
of philanthropy. Let us think of them no more ; but 
prepare to grow up in the midst of war.'' 

And, in a letter to Mr. Cerisier, of 17th November, 
1780, he says: "The final Independence of America is 
as certain as a decree of the destinies." 

It was thus that he scattered round him the consola- 
tions of his stout heart, and supported the genuine Inde- 
pendence of his country. 

His opinion, even at that early period, was most de- 
cidedly in favor of a navy. In a letter to Dr. Rush, of 
20th September, 1780, speaking ol privateering, he says: 
*' This and trade are the only way to lay the foundation 
of a navy ; which alone can afford a solid protection to 
every part of our country. If I could have my willj 
there should not be the least obstruction to navigation, 
commerce, or privateering ; because I firmly believe, 
that o/ie sailor will do us more good than two soldiers. 

And, in a letter to congress, on the 14th of October, 
1780, he says: ^'■Jinavy is our natur a I and only defence." 

Late in February, 1781, he received commissions to 



32 

form a treaty of amity and coinmcrcc with the states ge- 
neral ; and to accede to the armed neutrality. 

In July, of the same year, he was summoned to Paris, 
to consult upon the ofi'er of mediation made by the courts 
of Russia and Austria. He was treated with great cold- 
ness by the Count de Vergennes ; but the answer which 
Mr. Adams suggested, was adopted by the French court, 
and put an end to the negotiation upon that subject ; the 
mediating powers not being willing to acknowledge the 
Independence of the United States without the consent of 
Great Britain. 

Upon his return to Holland, he was advised by the 
French minister there, not to display his mission to the 
states general, or to the stadtholdcr, as he would not be 
received. 

Contrary to this advice, however, and upon his own re- 
sponsibility, he communicated to the states general his 
letters of credence, on the 19th of October, 1781, ac- 
companied by a memorial dated the 19th of April, in 
which he justified the American Declaration of Independ- 
ence ; asserted the unalterable determination of the Uni- 
ted States to maintain it ; demonstrated the interest which 
all Europe, and particularly the states general had in sup- 
porting it ; and pointed out the political and natural 
grounds of a commercial connexion between the two re- 
publics. The result proved that Mr. Adams's determi- 
nation was correct. He succeeded beyond his expecta- 
tions. The memorial was taken by the states general 
ad reftrendum ; the people thought and reasoned upon 
the matter, and at length demanded an immediate con- 
nexion with the United States, as an indemnification for 
the losses resulting, or apprehended, from the hostilities 
of Great Britain, and the rivalship of neighbouring na- 
tions. Mr. Adams availed himself of this disposition of 
the people, and, on the 9th of January, 1782, presented 
his ulterior address referring to that of the 19th of April, 
1781, and demanding a categorical answer. The several 
provinces took the matter into immediate consideration, 
and instructed their respective deputies in the states gen- 
eral to concur in the admission of Mr. Adams as minister 
plenipotentiary. This was done by a resolution of the 
19th of April, 1783, and on the 22d, he was received in 



33 

due form. This event was one of the most important 
which occurred during the Revolutionary war, ar.d mainly 
contributed to the acceleration of peace. During his re- 
sidence in Holland, Mr. Adams obtained several very im- 
portant loans, which assisted most materially to relieve 
the United States from their embarrassments, and, (which 
was quite as important) tended to diminish their depend- 
ence upon France. 

On the 8th of October, 1782, he concluded and signed 
a treaty of amity and commerce with the States General. 

On the 16th of August, 1781, a commission was issued 
to Mr. Adams to negotiate a treaty of alliance with Hol- 
land ; but he was so averse to alliances, and the hopes of 
peace having brightened, he thought it most prudent not 
to open the negotiation upon that subject. 

He remained in Holland, and refused to go to Paris to 
enter upon the negotiation for peace until he should be 
well assured that Great Britain would explicitly acknowl- 
edge the Independence of the United States. That as- 
surance was given ; and he repaired to Paris in October, 
1782, where he met Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Jay, and Mr. 
Laurens also, who had been liberated from the tower of 
London, that he might be present at the negotiation. 

By their instructions of the 15th of June, 1781, they 
were required '•' to accede to no treaty of peace which 
should not, tirst, effectually secure the independence and 
sovereignt}? of the thirteen states, according to the form 
and effect of the treaties subsisting between the said states 
and his most christian majesty ; and second, in which the 
said treaties should not be left in their full force and va- 
lidity." 

They were ^' to make the most candid and confidential 
communications, upon all subjects, to the ministers of our 
generous ally, the king of France; and to undertake 
nothing, in the negotiations for peace, without their know- 
ledge and concurrence ; AND ULTIMATELY TO GOVERN 
THEMSELVES BY THEIR ADVICE AND OPINION." 

Every thing, but our Independence of Great Britain, 
was thus surrendered to France, who had power to barter 
away all our other claims and rights to promote her own 
interests in the negotiation. 
5 



34 

Thus shackled and embarrassed by their instructions, 
our ministers liad a most difficult and delicate part to per- 
form, in order to counteract the intrigues of the other 
belligerents. It will be for the future biographers of those 
ministers to explain the particular course which was pur- 
sued by each; but the result was, that they boldly, upon 
their own responsibility, and relying upon the proud and 
independent spirit of their countrymen, resolved to throw 
off their shackles, and, in violation of their instructions, 
to act for themselves, and for their country. From the 
whole course of Mr. Adams's life, nothing less could have 
been expected from him ; and there can be no doubt that 
the same ardent spirit of patriotism which, in July, 1776, 
contributed so much to the unanimous Declaration of the 
Independence of the United States, burst forth again to 
sustain their honor. 

By the instructions first given to Mr. Adams, when 
he was appointed sole minister plenipotentiary to nego- 
tiate for peace, in 1779, Congress say to him, " In all 
other matters, not abovementioned, you are to govern 
yourself by the alliance between his most Christian ma- 
jesty and these states ; by the advice of our allies ; by 
your knowledge of our interests; and by your own 
DISCRETION, in ivhich ive repose the fullest confidence.'''^ 

Comparing their present instructions with those of 
1779, and probably having received information that, on 
the Sth of June, 1781, congress had agreed to fresh in- 
structions to Mr. Adams, in contemjjlation of the offered 
mediation of Russia and Austria, in which they say, " you 
will therefore use your own judgment and prudence in 
securing the interest of the United States in such manner 
as circumstances may direct, and the state of the bellige- 
rent, and the disposition of the mediating powers, may 
require." That, on the 9th of June, they refused, by a 
vote of six states to four, to join any persons with Mr. 
Adams in the negotiation; that, on the 10th, those fresh 
instructions were communicated confidentially to the 
French minister at Philadelphia; that, on the 11th, the 
committee who had conferred with that minister, reported 
such amendments as resulted in the complete transfer of 
all discretion from the American minister who was to 
negotiate for peace, to the French minister ; that, on the 



35 

same day, the vote refusing to join any persons with Mr. 
Adams, was reconsidered, and a resolution passed that 
two persons be joined with him in the nesjotiation ; that, 
on the 13th, Mr. Jay was elected as one of those two per- 
sons, and the election of the other postponed to the next 
day — when, it being understood that Mr. Adams and Mr. 
Jay were not great favorites at the court of France, con- 
gress resolved to add two more to tlie commission, mak- 
ing five in all, so as to take the chance of obtaining a 
majority who would overrule Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams; 
whereupon, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Laurens, and Mr. Jeffer- 
son were elected ; that congress, on the 29th, refused to 
instruct Mr. Adams, who still remained sole minister for 
negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, that 
he should insist on the fisheries, and the other objects 
included in their ulthnatum as it stood before the late 
instructions of the 15th of June; and that, on the 12tlTof 
July, the commission and instructions to Mr. Adams for 
negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain were 
revoked. — Combining all these circumstances, our minis- 
ters could not help concluding, that the French minister 
at Philadelphia had acquired a degree of influence over 
congress inconsistent with the interests and honor of the 
United States ; and that their instructions did not truly 
represent the feelings and the spirit of the people. They 
feared that the French ministers were disposed to make an 
improper use of the confidence thus placed in them by 
congress; and that, in respect to the questions of the 
boundaries, the fisheries, and the Mississippi, they could 
not safely rel}^ upon the good faith of France. They de- 
termined, therefore, to take those subjects into their own 
hands, and make their own terms with Great Britain, 
without consulting the ministers of a supposed treache- 
rous ally. And for no act of their eventful lives, do they 
deserve higher honor from their country. 

It is to their firmness alone that the United States are 
indebted for the extent to which those objects were se- 
cured by the treaty. 

The count de Vergennes complained pretty sharply to 
Dr. Franklin of this finesse, but the consciousness that 
his own views had been discovered, prubably, prevented 



36 

llic count from malving it the ground of any serious com- 
plaint to our government. 

The preliminary articles of peace were signed on the 
30th of November, 1782, and ratified by congress on the 
15th of April, 1783. The definitive treaty was signed 
on the 3d of September, 1783, and finally ratified on the 
14th of Januar}^, 1784. 

On the first of May, 1783, Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, 
and Mr. Jay, v^'ere appointed ministers plenipotentiary to 
negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with Great 
Britain ; but as she was not then disposed to treat on that 
subject, no treaty was ever made under this commis- 
sion. 

On the 7th of May, 17S4, a commission was ordered 
to Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, and Mr, Jefierson, to nego- 
tiate treaties of commerce with foreign powers. Instruc- 
tions had been previously drawn up by a committee, of 
whom Mr. Jefierson was chairman, which were remark- 
able for their liberality and for their tendenc)^ to mitigate, 
as much as possible, the evils of war to the individuals of 
belligerent nations, as well as to protect the rights of neu- 
isah. Under this commission, which was limited to two 
years, our first treaty with Prussia was concluded, in 
the year 1785, in which, for the first time, perhaps, in 
the annals of diplomacy, an article was introduced, by 
which they agree not to authorize privateering against 
each other, in case a war should arise between them, and 
that private property, and private persons, whose occupa- 
tions are for the common subsistence and benefit of man- 
kind, should not be molested. 

On the 24th of February, 1785, Mr. Adams was ap- 
pointed resident minister plenipotentiary to the court of 
Great Britain. The subjects of negotiation between that 
court and the United States, were the mutual infractions 
of the treaty of peace, by the non-delivery of the ports 
occupied by the British ; and by the legal impediments 
in the United States to the recovery of British debts. As 
congress had no power to coerce the individual states to 
remove those impediments, the negotiation was protract- 
ed, and the sources of irritation continued until the treaty 
of 1794. 



37 

By a regulation of congress of the ISth of February, 
1785, the commissions of ministers plenipotentiary were 
limited to three years, so that Mr. Adams's would expire 
on the 24th of February, 17SS. 

On the 24th of January, 1787, Mr. Adams requested 
leave to return after the expiration of the term limited in 
his commission ; which leave was granted on the 5th of 
October, in the same year; and, on that occasion, congress 
passed the followins; resolution : 

^^ Resolved, That congress entertain a high sense of the 
services which Mr. Adams has rendered to the United 
States, in the execution of the various important trusts 
which they have from time to time committed to him ; 
and that the thanks of congress be presented to him for 
the patriotism, perseverance, and integrity, with which 
he has ably and laithfuUy served his country." 

His letters of recall were ordered by congress on the 
12th of February, 1788, 

On his return to his country, he was immediately cho- 
sen the first vice-president of the United States under the 
new Constitution ; and by virtue of tliat office, became 
president of the Senate, over whose deliberations he pre- 
sided with dignity and impartiality. 

Having been elected again in 1793, he continued in 
that office until the 4th of March, 1797, when, upon gen- 
eral Washington's declining a re-election, he was chosen 
to the office of President of the United States. 

During the whole of general Washington's administra- 
tion, Mr. Adams enjoyed Ins entire confidence, and was 
as often consulted by him upon the most important ques- 
tions, as any member of the cabinet. General Washing- 
ton's administration had his most cordial support. 

In the year 1794, Mr. Madison introduced into the 
House of Representatives of the United States, his cele- 
brated comm.ercial regulations, pointed at Great Britain, 
and calculated to coerce her to comply with the unexecu- 
ted articles of the treaty of peace ; to open to us her co- 
lonial trade, and to respect our neutral rights. During 
the irritating discussion of these resolutions, information 
was received that captures of American vessels, by Bri- 
tish cruisers, were made to an unprecedented extent ; and 
that, on the 6th of November, 1793, additional instruc- 



38 

tlons had been issued, requiring them to bring in I'or le- 
gal adjudication, in the British courts of admiralty, all 
vessels laden with the produce of, or carrying provisions 
or other supplies to a French colony. This information 
produced a general expectation of war, and preparations 
were made to meet it. An embargo was laid ; and reso- 
lutions were introduced for selecting a body of 80,000 
militia ; for raising a provisional army ; for fortifying the 
military posts and harbours, and for raising a corps of en- 
gineers. 

Before these steps had been taken, it was ascertained 
that there was a majority in the House of Representatives, 
in favour of Mr. Madison's resolutions. Mr. Dayton 
now moved for a sequestration of British debts ; and Mr. 
Clarke introduced a resolution to prohibit all intercourse 
with Great Britain. Before any decision on those propo- 
sitions, despatches were received from Mr. Pinckney the 
American minister at London, indicating a more concilia- 
tory disposition on the part of the British government, 
who had revoked the instructions of the 6th of November, 
and substituted others of the 8th of January, of a less of- 
fensive character, and had intimated that even those were 
temporary and calculated only to meet a particular emer- 
gency. 

Believing, from this information, that w^ar was not in- 
evitable, and that it was not inconsistent with the honor 
of the United States to make one more effort to maintain 
their neutrality, the president, on the 16th of April, 1794, 
nominated Mr. Jay, as envoy extraordinary to the court 
of Great Britain. 

In this state of things, Mr. Clarke's resolution, prohib- 
iting all intercourse with that country was adopted by the 
House of Representatives on the 18th of April; and a 
bill founded thereon was sent to the Senate. Upon this 
bill the senators were equally divided. 

Ml". Adams felt the full weight of the responsi- 
bility thus thrown upon him. In the early stages of the 
Revolution he had witnessed the total inefficacy of such 
measures to control the political policy of Great Britain. 
He had concurred m adopting them at that time, rather 
with a view to unite the people, and to evince their pa- 
triotic spirit, than with the hope that they would compel 



39 

Great Britain to recede from the ground she had taken. 
He had, then, no faith in them ; but had agreed with his 
friends Hawley of Massachusetts, and Henry of Virginia, 
that, " after all tve must fight. ^^ He thought that the 
present bill would have no good effect on the policy of 
Great Britain ; that it would injure us as much as her ; 
that it would embarrass the proposed negotiation ; and 
would probably lead directly to war. 

This bill was rejected by his casting vote ; and the 
country, for that time, saved from plunging into a war; 
which, in the then state of parties, would probably have 
thrown us aaain into the arms of France — of Revolutiona- 
ry France. 

The two parties in the Senate were nearly balanced ; 
and Mr. Adams was often obliged to decide questions of 
the highest importance, and upon which party feeling 
had been deeply excited. 

Such was the question upon the bill, " in addition to 
the act for punishing certain crimes against the United 
States ;" — a bill intended to restrain the inhabitants of 
the United States from acts inconsistent with the duties 
of neutrality. This bill was passed by the casting vote 
of the Vice-President. 

It having been ascertained, inofficially, that Mr. Adams 
had received the votes of a majority of the electors for the 
office of President of the United States, as the successor 
of the illustrious Washington, who had declined a re- 
election, he retired from the Senate on the 15th of Febru- 
ary, 1797 ; and, upon that occasion observed : " It is a « 
recollection of which nothing can ever deprive me, and 
it will be a source of comfort to me through the remain- 
der of my life, that as, on the one hand, in a government 
constituted like ours, I have, for eight years, held the 
second situation under the Constitution of the United States 
in perfect and uninterrupted harmony with the first, with- 
out envy in the one, or jealousy in the other ; so, on the 
other hand, I have never had the smallest misunderstand- 
ing with any member of the Senate." 

The respectful answer of the Senate, on the 22d, bears 
testimony to his abilities and undeviating impartiality. 

The events of Mr. Adams's administration are, perhaps, 
yet too recent to permit us to trust to our own judgment 



40 

upon iheni : and they are too fresh In our recollection to 
need recapitulation. 

Considering the exasperated state of parties at that 
time, it may be some praise to say, that it was not wholly 
satisfactory to the leaders of either. Mr. Adams has 
himself said that he was never the favorite of the leaders 
of that which brought him into olTice. 

He was not a man to be led or driven. He was as in- 
dependent as he wished his country to be. He never would 
go the whole length with the party ; yet all their sins 
have been laid upon his head. 

The most important events in his administration were 
those connected with our relations to France ; and with 
the foundation of a navy. 

Fiom the time of the proclamation of neutrality, France 
had been using her utmost eiforts to force the governjnent 
from its neutral ground, and to drive the nation into a 
war with England : and she had almost succeeded when 
her hopes were nearly blasted by the treaty of 1794. — 
Fretted by this disappointment, she authorized almost 
unlimited depredations on our commerce. 

General Pinkney had been, by President Washington, 
appointed successor to Col. Munroe, as minister pleni- 
potentiary to France ; but the executive directory re- 
fused to receive him — treated him with indignity — and 
ordered him to quit the territory of the Republic — an- 
nouncing their determination not to receive another 
minister froni the United States until after the redress of 
grievances demanded of the American government. — 
Upon giving Mr. Monroe his audience of leave, the pre- 
sident of the directory addressed to him a speech, " in 
•which terms of outrage to the government of the United 
States were mingled with expressions of affection for the 
people ;"* and in which he intimated an expectation that 
the directory could rule the former by their influence 
over the latter. 

This state of things, together with the increased depre- 
dations on our commerce, induced Mr. Adams to call a 
meeting of congress, on the 15th of May, 1797. 

* Marshall's WashingtOH. 



41 

In his speech, alhidins; to the attempt of France to sepa- 
rate the people of the United States from their govern- 
ment, he says : " Such attempts ought to be repelled with 
a decision that shall convince France, and all the world, 
that we are not a degraded people ; humiliated under a 
colonial spirit of fear, and sense of inferiority, fitted to be 
the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and re- 
gardless of national honor, character, and interest." 

Believing, however, that neither the honor nor the 
interest of the United States absolutely forbade the repe- 
tition of advances for the preservation of peace, he deter- 
mined to institute a fresh attempt at negotiation. 

" It is impossible,'^ said he, at the close of his speech, 
" to conceal from ourselves, or the world, what has been 
before observed, that endeavors have been employed to 
foster and establish a division between the government 
and people of the United States. To investigate the 
causes which have encouraged the attempt, is not neces- 
sary. But to repel, by decided and united counsels in- 
sinuations so derogatory to the honor, and aggressions so 
dangerous to the constitution, union, and even indepen- 
dence of the nation, is an indispensible duty. 

" It must not be permitted to be doubted, whether the 
people of the United States will support the government 
established by their voluntary consent, and appointed by 
their free choice ; or, whether, by surrendering them- 
selves to the direction of foreign and domestic factions, 
in opposition to their own government, they will forfeit 
the honorable station they have hitherto maintained. 

*' For myself, having never been indifferent to what 
concerned the interests of my country ; devoted the best 
part of my life to obtain and support its Independence; 
and constantly witnessed the pntriotism, fidelity, and per- 
severance of my fellow-citizens on the most trying occa- 
sions ; it is not for me to hesitate, or to abandon a cause 
in which my heart has been so long engaged." 

The independent spirit which animated this speech, 
found sympathetic spirits in every part of the Union ; and 
energetic measures of defence were adopted. 

In compliance with the intimation given in his speech, 
the president appointed general Pinkney, of South-Caro- 
lina, general Marshall, of Virginia, (now the venerable 
6 



42 

chief justice of the United States,) and JNlr. Geny, of 
Massachusetts, envoys extraordinary to the court of 
France. 

In the spring of 1798, despatches were received, which 
announced the total failure of the mission, and described 
the accumulated indignities which were endured by our 
ministers with a patience and forbearance which could 
only be justified by their sincere desire to effect the ob- 
ject of their mission, and to unite their countrymen in a 
manly and patriotic support of their own government. 

France demanded money as the price of negotiation. 

These despatches, which were laid before congress, and 
ordered to be published, excited a warm and extensive 
indignation ; and in every part of the country the senti- 
ment was re-echoed — " millions for defence ; but 

NOT A CENT FOR TRIBUTE." 

" Addresses to the executive from every part of the 
United States, attested the high spirit of the nation ; and 
the answers of the president were well calculated to give 
it solidity and duration."* 

Vigorous measures, not only of defence, but of retalia- 
tion, were adopted by congress ; and general Washing- 
ton condescended to accept the office of lieutenant gene- 
ral of the armies of the United States. 

Six frigates, eighteen sloops of war, and ten gallies 
were authorized to be built or purchased ; and the de- 
partment of the navy was established. Acts were passed 
for augi:;enting the regular army ; for raising a provi- 
sional army ; for suspending the commercial intercourse 
with France ; for seizing French armed vessels ; and for 
declaring; the treaties with France no longer obligatory. 
These measures were followed by actual hostilities at sea j 
and the capture of several French armed vessels. 

In his speech, at the opening of the congress, in Decem- 
ber, 1798, the president said: " To the usual subjects of 
gratitude, I cannot omit to add one, of the first import- 
ance to our well-being and safety : I mean that spirit 
which has arisen in our country against tiie menaces and 
aggressions of a foreign nation. A manly sense of na- 
tional honor, dignity and independence, has appeared, 

* Marshall's Washuigton. 



4S 

which, if encouraged and invigorated by every branch of 
the government, will enable us to view, undismayed, the 
enterprizes of any foreign power, and become the sure 
foundation of national prosperity and glory." 

"But, in demonstrating, by our conduct, that we do not 
fear war, in the necessary protection of our rights and 
honor, we shall give no room to infer that we shall aban-» 
don the desire of peace. An efficient preparation for war 
can alone ensure peace. It is peace that we have uniformly 
and perseveringly cultivated ; and harmony, between us 
and France, may be restored at her option. But to send 
another minister, without more determined assurances that 
he would be received, would be an act of humiliation, to 
which the United States ought not to submit. It must, 
therefore, be left to France, if she is, indeed, desirous of 
accommodation, to take the requisite steps." 

1 hose " more determined assurances" were received 
from the French minister of foreign relations through 
Mr. Murray, the minister of the United States at the 
Hague ; and the president, anxious to seize upon any 
honorable means of restoring harmony with our ancient 
ally, again sent three envoys extraordinary to the French 
republic ; who were received, and happily effected an 
amicable adjustment of the differences between the two 
countries. 

The spirit and prudence with which this quarrel was 
managed, were not less honorable to the citizens of the 
United States than to the administration. 

Mr. Adams has, with justice, been called the founder 
of the navy of the United States. 

That the capacity of this country to become a great 
naval power, was a subject of his 5'outhful contempla- 
tions, is evident, in his letter from Worcester, in Octo- 
ber, 1755 ; and that he deemed it to be the natural and 
surest defence against foreign power, appears in all his 
correspondence with his friends, and with congress, 
through the whole course of the Revolution ; and by his 
speeches and messages to congress during his administra- 
tion. 

At the commencement of the present government, the 
United States had not a single ship of war 5 — not a gan 
afloat that could protect our commerce. 



44 

Although our merchant vessels were found in every sea, 
and exposed to continual vexation and plunder, 3-et, so 
unpopular was the idea of a navy, in certain parts of the 
coui»try, that it was not until December, 1796, that pre- 
sident Washington ventured, expressly, to name the sub- 
ject. 

A small naval armament had been authorized by the act 
of the 27th of March, 17.94, for the protection of our 
trade against Algcrine corsairs. It was to consist of not 
more than six frigates ; and, if peace with Algiers should 
take place, no further proceeding was to be had under 
that act. 

The building of three of the frigates was commenced, 
but before they were finished, peace was made with Al- 
giers. 

■By the act of 20th of April, 1796, the three frigates 
were ordered to be completed, but at the commencement 
of JNIr. Adams's administration, we were still without a 
ship of war in commission. 

In his first speech to congress, at the special session in 
May, 1797, the president recommended, in strong terms, 
the protection of commerce by a naval force. 

In pursuance of this recommendation, the president 
was authorized by the act of 1st July, 1797, to cause the 
three frigates, " The United Slates," " The Constitu- 
tion,^' and " The Constellation^'' to be manned and em- 
ployed, and the strength of the revenue cutters to be 
increased. 

But the jealousy of even th.is small naval force was so 
great, that the period of service of the seamen and ma- 
rines, was limited to one year; and the president was 
authorized to discbarge Ihem sooner, if, in his judgment, 
their services might sooner be dispensed with ; and ihe 
act itself was to continue one year, and to the end of the 
next session thereafter, and no longer. 

At the opening of the next session of congress, in De- 
cember, 1797, the president again recommended the pro- 
tection of commerce in general terms. The event of the 
mission to the French republic, was not then known ; the 
envoys having but just arrived in Europe. Before the 
close of the session, however, information of its total fiil- 
urc was received ; and, by various acts, a naval armament 



45 

was authorized, consisting of twenty-four ships of war, of 
which six were to be frigates, to rate not less than thirty- 
two guns each ; twelve, not less than twenty, nor more than 
twenty-four guns each; and six, not exceeding eighteen 
guns each. At this session, also, the department of the 
navy, and the marine corps, were established and organ- 
ized. 

Tliis was a great effort for a single session, and proba- 
bly would not have been made but for the peculiar excite- 
ment of the moment produced by the conduct of France. 
It, however, afforded the nation an opportunity of wit- 
nessing an experiment upon a point of national policy, in 
regard to which there existed a vast difference of opinion. 

At the opening of the next session, (Dec. 1798,) the 
president said : " The beneficial effects of the small naval 
armanent provided under the acts of the last session, are 
known and acknowledged. Perhaps no country ever ex- 
perienced more sudden and remarkable advantages from 
any measure of policy than we have derived from the 
arming for our maritime protection and defence." 

On the 25th of February, 1799, an act was passed for 
the augmentation of the navy by an additional force of 
six 74's, and six 18 gun sloops of war. Other acts were 
passed for the construction of docks and for the purchase 
of timber, and the appropriations of this session, for na- 
val purposes, exceeded three millions of dollars. 

In his speech, at the opening of congress, in November, 
1800, the president again presented the navy to their con- 
sideration, and observed, that, " The present navy of the 
United States, called suddenly into existence, by a great 
national emergency, has raised us in our own esteem ; 
and by the protection afforded to our commerce, has ef- 
fected, to the extent of our expectations, the objects for 
which it was created." 

And the House of Representatives in their answer say : 
" At this period it is confidently believed that few per- 
sons can be found within the United States, who do not 
admit, that a navy, well organized, must constitute the na- 
tural and efficient defence of this country against all for- 
eign hostility. The mind must, in our opinion, be insen- 
sible to the plainest truths, which cannot discern the ele- 
vated ground on which this policy has placed our country. 



46 

^' The national spirit which alone could vindicate our 
common rights, has been roused, and those latent energies, 
which had not been fully known, were unfolded and 
brought into view, and our fellow-citizens were prepared 
to meet every event which national honour or national se- 
curity could render necessary. Nor have its effects been 
less important in other respects. Whilst many of the na- 
tions of the earth have been impoverished and depopula- 
ted by internal commotions, and national contests, our 
internal peace has not been materially impaired ; our 
commerce has extended, under the protection of our in- 
fant navy, to every part of the globe; wealth has flowed, 
without intermission, into our seaports ; and the labors 
of the husbandman have been rewarded by a ready mark- 
et for the productions of the soil." 

On the 3d of March, 1801 , the controversy with France 
liaving been amicably settled, the president was author- 
ized to cause to be sold all the ships belonging to the na- 
vy, excepting thirteen frigates ; seven of which were to 
be laid up, and six kept in constant service. This was the 
last act of Mr. Adams's administration in regard to the 
navy. 

He had taught his country the important truth, that she 
could create and maintain a respectable naval force ; that 
she was able to protect her commerce : and that the in- 
crease of revenue, arising from the protected commerce, 
would more than pay for its protection ; besides enabling 
the nation to respect itself and to cause itself to be re- 
spected. 

As the close of Mr. Adams's term of office approached, 
it was natural that the attention of the public should be 
turned with anxiety towards the new election. 

His administration, as has been before observed, had not 
satisfied the leaders of either of the two parties into which 
the nation was divided. For the republicans, his meas- 
ures were too strong ; for the federalists, too weak. It 
has been before stated, that he never was a favorite of the 
leaders of the federal party, but as they could not find 
another who could unite so many federal votes in his fa- 
vor, they determined to push him again as their candidate 
for the new election. This want of cordiality pervaded 
even the cabinet; and, with so deservedly popular an op- 



47 

ponent as Mr. Jeflerson, it is not wonderful that JUr. 
Adams was not re-elected. 

But we have nothing now to do with the intrigues of 
party. The question for posterity will be, what was the 
character of the man, and of his measures ? 

Considering him as not being the leader of the federal 
party, it does not seem just to charge him with acts which 
he did not recommend. For, although he had a qualified 
negative, which he might have applied to such acts, yet, 
unless he should deem them to be unconstitutional, or 
clearly and decidedly inexpedient, it could hardly be ex- 
pected that he would so apply it. This might, possibly, 
have been the case with the acts commonly called " the 
alien and sedition laws." They were passed in 1799, dur- 
' ing a season of strong excitement, while a serious insur- 
rection existed in Pennsylvania, in opposition to the go- 
vernment; while the country was filled with aliens, who 
were impudently endeavoring to drive the nation from its 
neutral ground, and when it was supposed that the coun- 
try was upon the eve of a war with France, These acts 
being limited to two years, were suffered to expire ; 
and, however unpopular, impolitic, or exceptionable 
they might have been, they will not, in the eye of an 
impartial statesman, materially affect the general charac- 
ter of Mr. Adams's administration ; and cannot deprive 
it of the credit of having firmly maintained the course of 
policy marked out by Washington ; — of having placed the 
country in a dignified attitude of defence ; — of having suc- 
cessfully counteracted the insidious policy of Fi'ance ; — 
of having enabled the United States justly to estimate 
their own resources ; — to feel their own strength ; — to 
demonstrate the proposition, that the cheapest, the safest^ 
and the most effectual, defence of this country is a navy; 
and of having elevated the character of the nation in its 
own esteem, and in that of the world. 

That this was the true policy of the nation, is demon- 
strated by the fact, that successive administrations, after 
making the unavailing experiment of commercial restric- 
tions and non-intercourse, and continued embargoes, and 
all the other measures of the hybernating system , in which 
the nation reposed in a state of torpor, chilling all its ener=- 
gies, and stopping the circulation of its vital fluid ; were, 



48 

at last, obliged to resort to war, with a ruined revenue, 
and an empty treasury ; and that the most brilliant feats 
of that war were achieved by that navy, the foundation 
of which was so ardently opposed during the administra- 
tion of Mr. Adams. 

Upon the whole, then, we may say of that administra- 
tion, that its most important and leading measures, have 
been unequivocally approved by the voice of the nation ; 
and that he maintained, with vigor, its best interests, and 
its honor. 

In regard to Mr. Adams's opinions respecting the best 
form of government, or, in other words, the best politi- 
cal constitution of a state, different judgments have been 
formed. 

It has been contended, that, in an elective government, 
if the elections be free and frequent, checks and balances 
are unnecessary clogs upon the popular will, and that 
popular elections are a sufficient remedy for every evil. 

When the people of the colonies resolved on Independ- 
ence, the wisest among them were more anxious in regard 
to the political condition of the country after that object 
should be obtained, than to the issue of the sharp conflict 
by which it was to be achieved. 

The origin, foundation, and principles, of government, 
attracted the attention of Mr. Adams in very early life, 
as is evident in the extracts which have already been 
given from his Essay on Canon and Feudal Law, pub- 
lished in 1765, before he was thirty years of age.* 

Mr. Adams early adopted the idea, that it was necessa- 
ry, for the stability of a popular government, that the three 
great powers, the executive, the legislative, and the Jiidi' 
cial, should be separated from each other, and that each 
should be independent of the other two ; that the legisla- 
ture should be divided into two houses, each having a ne- 
gative upon the other; and that the executive should have 
a protecting veto against both. This he deemed to be the 
theory and spirit of the English Constitution, and he 
thought he saw in it all that was necessary to the perfec- 
tion of government. He did not, however, deem it es- 
sential that the executive, or either branch of the legisla- 

* See '^Qii 10, at the enrt. 



49 

ture should be hereditary. He was always of opinion 
that the government which was most popular, consistent- 
ly with its stability, was the best. 

The earliest evidence we have of his idea of a consti- 
tution of government, for one of these states, is contained 
in a letter written by him to JVIr. Richard Henry Lee, 
and at his request, in consequence of a conversation be- 
tween them, on the preceding evening, at Philadelphia. 
It is dated on the 15th of November, 1775. In this letter, 
he says: "a legislative, an executive, and a judicial pow- 
er, comprehend the whole of what is meant and under- 
stood by government. It is by balancing each of these 
powers against the other two, that the effort of human na- 
ture towards tyranny can alone be checked and restrained, 
and any degree of freedom preserved in the Constitution.'* 

He then proposes that the people should elect a house 
of commons, who should choose a governor and council 
annually, triennially, or septennially ; — or, if it should be 
preferred, they might be chosen by the people. 

That the governor, council, and house, should be each 
a distinct and independent branch of the legislature, with 
a negative upon all laws : 

That the lieutenant governor, secretary, treasurer, com-. 
missary, attorney general, and solicitor general, should be 
chosen annually by joint ballot of both houses: 

That the other officers and magistrates, civil and milita- 
ry, should be nominated and appointed by the governor, 
with the advice and consent of the council : 

That the governor should have the command of the 
army, militia, &c. 

That the judges, at least of the supreme court, should 
Iiold their offices during good behaviour; have salaries as- 
certained and established by law; and should be incapa- 
ble of holding any share of the legislative or executive 
power. 

" In adopting a plan, in some respects similar to this," 
he says, '• human nature would appear in its proper glory, 
asserting its own real dignity, pulling down tyrannies 
at a single exertion, and erecting such new fabrics as it 
thinks best calculated to promote its happiness.*" 

* See Xote 9, at the end. 



50 

Early in the year 1776, when Virginia was about to 
form a constitution, Mr. Adams, it is said, communicated 
■^lis thoughts, more fully, upon the subject of government, 
in a letter to iNir. Wythe, of Virginia, and gave his rea- 
sons more at large for advising a division of the legisla- 
ture into two houses, each having a negative upon the 
other. That letter was supposed to have had considera- 
ble efi'ect upon the formation of the constitution of Vir- 
ginia ; and a copy of it is also said to have been procured 
by Mr. Jay and used with considerable effect in the con- 
-slruction of that of New York.* 

It is probable that those letters contributed largely to- 
wards the introduction, into the several constitutions of 
the other states, of the principle of the division of the 
legislative power into two independent branches ; a prin- 
ciple which has always been unpopular with a considera- 
ble part of the community ; but which has been found by 
experience to be absolutely necessary to the permanency 
of a popular government. 

Often as the experiment has been tried, no single demo- 
cratic assembly has ever been able to maintain its exist- 
ence, and preserve the liberties of the people for any length 
of time. Pennsylvania tried it — Georgia tried it — Eng- 
land tried it — France tried it — Spain tried it — some of the 
Spanish American states have tried it — many other states 
have tried it, and, in every instance, the experiment has 
failed. 

A principle that would enable mankind to reduce to 
practice the theory of a republican government, was want- 
ing. Mr Adams, if he did not discover it, taught the 
friends of freedom how to apply it ; and demonstrated, in 
the most philosophical manner, by the history of experi- 
ments actually made, that liberty can only be preserved, 
by a balanced legislature, and by the separation and inde- 
pendence of the three great powers of government. 

If Mr. Adams had done nothing more than this, he 
would have conferred a benefit upon the world for which 
millions might bless his name. 

Next to the Independence of his country, the object 
most dear to his heart was the successful establishment of 
permanent republican governments, raised upon the only 

* See Note 11, at die end. 



51 

solid and legitimate basis, the will and happiness of tlie 
people. To accomplish this object, he deemed it neces- 
sary to establish his principle by the history of actual 
experiments. He found that, although it was inserted in 
most, if not all, of the American constitutions, yet its 
necessity was not universally acknowledged. Many doubt- 
ed its propriety and its use ; and the philosophers and po- 
liticians of Europe had asserted, that it had been adopted 
in America, merely because the legislative pov/er hap- 
pened to be so divided in England. Mr. Turgot had slated, 
that, by most of the Americ:m states, " The customs of 
England had been imitated without any particular motive. 
That, instead of collecting all authority into one centre, 
that of the nation, they had established different bodies — 
a house of representatives, a council, and a governor, 
because there is, in England, a house of commons, a liouse 
of lords, and a king. That they endeavored to balance 
these different powers, as if this equilibrium, which, in 
England, may be necessary to check the enormous influ- 
ence of royalty, could be of any use in republics founded 
upon the equality of all the citizens; and, as if establish- 
ing different orders of men was not a source of divisions 
and disputes." 

There had also been, from the beginning of the Revo- 
lution, a party, in every state, who had entertained simi- 
lar opinions. In Massachusetts, immediately preceding 
the insurrection of Shays, in 1786, county committees 
had been chosen, and other conventions proposed, with 
the express purpose of deposing the governor and senate, 
as useless and expensive branches of the constitution. 

As Mr. Adams had been mainly instrumental in caus- 
ing those checks and balances to be introduced into the 
state governments of America, he deemed it incumbent 
on him to satisfy the world, and particularly his own 
countrymen, that they were not so introduced, without a 
sufficient motive, nor merely in blind imitation of the 
English constitution; but that the principle was founded 
on the nature of man. He knew it was easy for a man of 
strong imagination, to form a beautiful and captivating 
theory of government, and to support it with very plau- 
sible arguments, a pritri ; and that it might be fiifficult, 
'if not impossible, to demonstrate its fallacy, but by actual 



52 

experiment. He determined, therefore, that his own should 
be founded upon the only sure ground of useful know- 
ledge, experience. 

As he could not, like a chemist, sit in his laboratory, 
and make experiments upon nations, which it would take 
ages to perform ; he was obliged to resort to the history 
of experiments already made. He was then residing in 
London, as minister from the United States, and had ac- 
cess to historical writers little read or known in America. 
He engaged with ardor in the work. The occasion was 
urgent. The constitution of his native state was formi- 
dably attacked. The confederation of the states, being a 
revolutionary instrument, had scarcely the powers or 
form of a government, and was almost functus officio. 
To be useful, it behoved him to be expeditious. He 
therefore took a rapid view of the forms of government 
and revolutions of the principal republics which have ex- 
isted in the world ; and with great force of argument de- 
monstrated that whatever of liberty and permanency they 
enjoyed depended upon the balance of their powers. This 
was done in a series of letters, published as rapidly as 
they were written, under the title of " Jl defence of the 
constitutions of government of the United States of 
America against the attack of M. Turgot in his letter 
to Dr. Price, dated the 22d of March, 1778," with the 
appropriate motto, " All nature's difference keeps all na- 
ture's peace.^^ They are contained in three volumes, and 
were written and published within the fifteen months 
next preceding the 3d of December, 1787. 

In these volumes he not only examined the constitu- 
tions and political revolutions of the principal republics 
which have existed, but reviewed the writings and opin- 
ions of the most celebrated historians, philosophers, and 
statesmen, both ancient and modern. 

The whole of his doctrine upon the subject of govern- 
ment, seems to be embodied in the following extract from 
his conclusion of the first volume : 

" By the authorities and examples, already cited, you 
will be convinced that three branches of power have an 
unalterable foundation in nature ; that they exist in every 
society, natural and artificial ; and that if all of them arc 
not acknowledged in any constitution of government, it 



will be found to lie imperfect, unstable, and soon enslaved: 
that the legislative and executive authorities are naturally 
distinct; and that liberty and the laws depend entirely 
upon a separation of them in the frame of government : 
that the legislative power is naturally and necessarily 
sovereign and supreme over the executive ; and therefore 
that the latter must be made an essential branch of the 
former, even with a negative, or it will not be able to de- 
fend itself, but will soon be invaded, undermined, attack- 
ed, or in some other way, totally ruined and annihilated 
by the former." 

" All nations, under all governments, must have parties. 
The great secret is to control them. There are but two 
ways : either by a monarchy and a standing army, or by 
a balance in the constitution. Where the people have 
a voice and there is no balance, there will be everlasting 
fluctuations, revolutions and horrors, until a standing 
army, with a general at its head, commands the peace, or 
the necessity of an equilibrium is made to appear to all, 
and is adopted by all." 

These letters, although thus hastily written, contain 
such a mass of political information brought to bear upon 
the principle which it was adduced to support, as has sel- 
dom been collected : and it will be a difficult task indeed 
to refute the argument which has been drawn from it. 
He has assembled together the opinions and reasonings of 
philosophers, politicians, and historians, who have taken 
the most extensive views of men and societies ; whose 
characters are deservedly revered ; and whose writino-s 
were in the contemplation of those w^ho framed the 
American constitutions. This work, in the rage of that 
party spirit, which sought to snatch political power from 
the hands of its author, suffered in the conflict. It was, 
with a political view, attacked with every sort of weapon, 
and for a time, at least, it became unpopular. Indeed, 
the principle which it inculcated, as has been before ob- 
served, never was universally popular. We could not 
bear to be told that we were not, in all forms of govern- 
ment, the best keepers of our own liberty : that its pre- 
servation depended more upon checks and balances, than 
upon our own virtue. 



54 

But the time will come when it will be resorted to as 
a reservoir of political wisdom; and posterity will revere 
the author for the profoundness of his researches ; for the 
Ijoldness with which he proclaimed the truth ; and for the 
perseverance Avith which he maintained it. 

Mr. Adams's opinion of the constitution of tlie United 
States, is thus expressed, in his inaugural address, in 1797: 

"I ftrst saw the constitution of the United States in a 
foreign country. Irritated by no altercation, animated by 
no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it 
with great satisfaction, as a result of good he.^ds, prompt- 
ed by good hearts ; and as an experiment, better adapted 
to the genius, character, situation, and relation of this na- 
tion and country, than any which had ever been projjosed 
or suggested. In its general principles and great out- 
lines it was conformable to such a system of government 
as I had ever most esteemed, and in some states, my own 
native state in particular, had contributed to establish." 

'•' It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it, 
in my mind, that the executive and senate were not more 
permanent ; nor have I ever entertained a thought of pro- 
moting an alteration in it, but such as the people them- 
selves, in the course of their experience, should see and 
feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their represen- 
tatives in congress and the legislatures, according to the 
constitution itself, adopt and ordain." 

In the year 1790, while Mr. Adams was vice-president, 
and in an early stage of the French revolution, while all 
power was centred in a single national assembly ; while 
all eyes were turned towards that great experiment, and 
some extravagant notions wefe gaining ground in this 
country, he deemed it a proper moment to recall the at- 
tention of the public to his great principle of govern- 
ment, the balance of power. 

As a subject that might attract the notice of French- 
men, he chose, as the text of his commentary, Davila's 
Idstory of the civil wars in France in the 1 Gth century; 
and published a number of papers in the Gazette of the 
United States, in June and July, 1790, under the title of 
" Discourses on Davila." 

In these papers he pursued the same course of reason- 
ing from facts, which he had adopted in his defence of 



55 

the constitutions; and, in one of them, ( No. 14. July 17,- 
1790,) with great accuracy, predicted the fate of the ex- 
periment then making in France.* 

In 1801, Mr. Adams, for the first time in thirty years, 
found himself a private citizen, and retired to his farm in 
Quincy, where he occupied himself with agricultural 
pursuits, and amused himself with the literature and the 
politics of the day. The welfare of his country was 
still near his heart ; and he did not, as some may have 
supposed, condemn, with indiscriminate censure, the 
measures of succeeding administrations. What he could 
not approve, witli characteristic honesty, he candidly con- 
demned ; what he thought right, he, as freely, approved 
and supported. He was not a friend to commercial re- 
strictions as the means of coercion, although he com- 
mended the spirit of resistance with which they were 
adopted. He thought It better that commerce should be 
protected than abandoned. But the moment it became a 
question whether the honor of his country should be sup- 
ported, he boldly threw his weight into the scale of his 
country's cause. In comparison with the honor of his 
country, the petty bickerings of party became, in his 
eyes, not only contemptible, but wicked. His whole life 
had been devoted to that cause, and it was not for him, to 
hesitate between a local, temporary, popularit3^ and the 
great interests of the nation. Nor can it, for a moment, 
be believed, that he, who, in his most ambitious days, 
never made a single sacrifice to popularity, should now, 
for the first time, surrender his opinion, in the pitiful 
hope of gaining favor for himself, or for any of his fami- 
ly, with the prevailing party. It was not for him, when 
the ship was in danger, to sit coldly in the cabin, and say 
he was only a passenger. 

His letters in 1809, published in the Boston Patriot, 
upon the wrongs committed upon our commerce and our 
seamen, show that the spirit of 1776 was not extinguish- 
ed ; and those upon impressment contain an unanswerable 
argument upon that subject. His communications to the 
Boston Patriot, and to some other gazettes, were contin- 
ued, occasionally, for several years, and elucidated many 

* Ste Note 12, jit fhc enA. 



56 

important points in the history of the times to which they 
relate. 

In 1817, he was chosen a member of the electoral col- 
lege which voted for Mr. Monroe as president of the 
United States. 

In 1818, he was called upon to endure the greatest 
affliction of his long and eventful life — the loss of the 
bosom friend of his youth — the partner of his joys and 
sorrows — his confidant and counsellor. 

Words cannot do justice to her worth, or express his 
feelings. Their most intimate friends, who knew how 
much they leaned on each other, were afraid that Mr. 
Adams would sink under this heavy affliction. But his 
heroic spirit sustained the shock with the fortitude of a 
philosopher, and with the resignation of a Christian. 

Mr. Jefferson was one of the first to pour the balm of 
consolation upon his wounded spirit. In a letter to Mr. 
Adams, dated Monticello, Nov. 13, 1818, he says: 

" The public papers, my dear friend, announce the 
fatal event, of which your letter, of October 20th, had 
given me ominous foreboding. Tried myself, in the school 
of affliction, by the loss of every form of connexion which 
can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel, what 
you have lost — what you are suffering — and have yet to 
endure. The same trials have taught me, that for ills so 
immeasurable, time and silence are the only medicines. I 
will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh 
the sluices of your grief; nor, although mingling, sin- 
cerely, my tears with yours, will I say a word more, 
where words are vain ; but that it is some comfort to us 
both, that the term is not very distant, at which we are 
to deposit, in the same cerement, our sorrows and suffer- 
ing bodies; and to ascend, in essence, to an ecstatic meet- 
ings with the friends we have loved and lost; and whom 
we shall still love, and never lose again. God bless you, 
and support you under your heavy affliction. 

« THOMAS JEFFERSON." 

What a lesson does this teach to the political opponents 
of the present day ! What a brilliance does it throw upon 
the characters of those two illustrious patriots ! 



57 

In 1820, Mr. Adams was chosen a member of the con- 
vention to revise that constitution of his native state, 
which he had, forty years before, so largely contributed 
to estabhsh ; and was, almost unanimously, elected its 
president. Upon that occasion, the convention, upon the 
motion of chief justice Parker, passed a resolution, in 
which, after reciting, in a neat preamble, the principal 
instances in which his services had been most useful to 
his country, they expressed their gratitude for those ser- 
vices, and appointed a committee of twelve to inform 
him of his election to the office of president of the con- 
vention.* 

This honor he felt himself obliged to decline, on ac- 
count of his great age and bodily infirmities. He, how- 
ever, attended the convention, and discharged his duty 
as a member. He was then eighty-five years old. This 
was the last of his public services. 

Mr. Adams was always remarkable for the punctuality 
of his correspondence. And, although he had nearly lost 
his sight, and was unable to use his pen, he continued 
that punctuality, by dictating to an amanuensis, until a 
few days before his death. His answer, of the 22d of June, 
to the invitation from the citizens of Washington, to join 
with them in celebrating the national jubilee, shows that 
his mental faculties were still unimpaired. When he de- 
livered his written answer to the committee of his native 
town, who had given him a similar invitation, he said to 
them, " I shall not be present in body ; but in spirit I 
shall be with you." On the morning of the jubilee, he 
awoke at the ringing of the bells, and the firing of can- 
non. The servant who watched with him, asked him if he 
knew what day it was? " yes," he replied, "it is the 
glorious 4th of July — God bless it — God bless you all." 

In the forenoon, the orator of the day, Mr. Whitney, 
called to see him, and found him seated in a large arm- 
chair. In the course of the interview, Mr. Whitney asked 
him for a sentiment, to be delivered at the table. He 
replied, " I will give you, " independence forever." 
After a few moments had elapsed, a lady present askecJL 

* S"^!? No<p 13. at thn OX]'], 

S 



68 

]ilm if he wished to add any thing to the toast ? and he 
said, " Not a syllable." \ 

This passed an hour or two only before his dissolution. 
In the course of the day he said, " It is a great and good 
day," And that his thoughts were dwelling on the scenes 
of 1776, is evident, from the last words he uttered, which 
were, " Jefferson survives." But, alas ! at that very mo- 
ment, the spirit of Jefferson had already flown. 

Towards evening, Mr. Adams's strength failed ; he 
gradually sunk away, and his spirit departed before the 
setting sun, on the 4th of July, 1826, in the 91st year of 
bis age. 

There had been a thunder-storm ; and the artillery of 
heaven added sublimity to the scene. At the moment 
when the spirit of Adams began to ascend, a most splen- 
did and perfect rainbow over-arched his dwelling. It 
was like the gate or Heaven. One who beheld the scene, 
says, " It seemed as if all nature gave witness, that no 
common spirit was travelling the fields of air to its high 
abode. It rose upon the aspirations of the multitude — 
shouting, " Independence forever.''^ 

Mr. Adams's political character is best pourtrayed by 
a simple recital of his public life. 

That he was ambitious of public honors, must be ad- 
mitted ; for, in a republican government, public honors 
are the evidence of public approbation. Ambition is crim- 
inal only when it seeks the honors without deserving 
them. No public man ever sacrificed less to popularity 
than Mr. Adams. No man ever pursued more steadily 
what he believed to be the best interests of his country. 

Mr. Jefferson often said, " There is not, upon earth, a 
more perfectly honest man than John Adams. Conceal- 
ment is no part of his character; of that he is utterly in- 
capable; it is not in his nature to meditate any thing that 
he would not publish to the world. I know him loell, and 
I repeat it, that a man more perfectly honest never is- 
sued from the hands of his Creator."* 

Mr. Adams's private character was unimpeachable and 
exemplary. In all the domestic relations, he was kind, 
affectionate, and cheerful. In his friendships he was sin- 

* Mr. Wii-t's discourse, p. 51. 



59 

cere and ardent. In his intercourse with the world, no 
desire of wealth ever mingled with his motives. Without 
being rich, he was always independent. His domestic 
concerns were entirely under the control of Mrs. Adams, 
whose prudence relieved him altogether from cares of that 
description, and permitted him to devote his whole time 
to the service of his country, and to the pursuits of lite- 
rature. 

Mr. Adams was one of the most learned statesmen of 
his age. There was scarce a subject in polite literature, 
of which he was not master ; and to all literary societies 
he was -a friend and benefactor. 

In his religious sentiments, as well as in all others, he 
was liberal ; and in his religious duties, exemplary. 

Such was the man, who was an honor to his country; 
and whose memory his country will delight to honor. 



NOTES. 



{See Page Q.) 

NoTK 1. — In 1650, the house of commons, having deposed the king and 
established its power over England, passed an ordinance, declaring that the 
colonies " are, and ought to be, dependent on that nation, and subject to 
such laws and regulations as are, or shall be, made by parliament." MaV' 
shair.i History of tfie Colonies, p. 65. 

In 1696, by the stat. of 7 &, 8 fV. 3. c. 22, § 9, it is enacted, "That all laws, 
by-laws, usages, or customs at this time, or which hereafter shall be, in 
practice, or endeavoi-ed, or mtended to be, in force, or practice, in any of 
the said plantations, which are, in any-wise, repugnant to the beforementioned 
laws, or any of them, so far as they do relate to the said plantatioiis , or any 
of them, or which are, m anyways, repugnant to this jpresent act, or to any 
other law hereafter to be made in this kingdom, so far forth as such law shall 
relate to and mention the said plantations, are illegal, null, and void, to all 
intents and purposes whatsoever." 

( See rage 10.) 
Note 2. — AWiough, in 1650, the general court of Massachusetts, in a 
petition against the autliority given to the council of state, during the com- 
monwealth, to displace the colonial governors and to appoint others, style 
the parliament, " tbe supreme authoritt ;" yet, as that parliament had 
usurped the whole authority of the king, it might be considered as, de facto, 
the mipreme ponuer over the colonies, by vu-tue of its assumption of the 
rights of the crown. And, therefore, such acknowledgment, under such 
circumstances, cannot be considered as an acknowledgment of the i-ight of 
parliament to legislate for the colonies in the ordinary exercise of its con- 
stitutional powers. Whatever right that parliament had to legislate for the 
colonies, could only be claimed under the usurped rights of the king. 

Again: altliough, in 17 J4, the legislature of Massachusetts, in answer to 
the governor, and referring to a late act of parliament, for granting certaitt 
duties in the colonies, say: " We acknowledge it to be our duty to yield obe- 
dience to it while it continues unrepealed," and only argue against the expe- 
diency of the measure, yet, in a letter fi-om the same legislature, addressed 
to cheir agent in England, tliey say: "We have endeavored to avoid giving 
offence, and have touched upon our rights in such a manner as that no infer- 
ence can be drawn that ive nave given them tip, on the one hand, nor that we 
set up in opposition to the parliament, nor deny that we are bound to the ob- 
servance of acts of parliament, on the other." 

Governor Bernard complimented the legislature upon the dutiful manner 
in which tiieir representations to parliament had been formed ; but that duti- 
ful manriiir did not prevent the passing of the stamp-act at the next session of 
parliament, by a majority of four to one. 

And the right of taxation had been frequently denied by the colonies long 
before that time. 

In 1524, after James the first had sent commissioners to Virginia, to inquire 
into tlie state of the colony, and after a quo -warranto had issued to vacate the 
charter of the company, the colonial assembly passed a number of acts, one of 
•which was equivalent to a bill of rights, and declared, " that the governor 
should not impose any taxes on the colony, otherwise than by the authority of 
the genei^al assembly." Marshall's History of the Colonies, p. 62, 139. 1 
Jfolmes's Annals, 232. 

As early as 1634, tlie general court of Massachusetts passed several reso- 
lutions, asserting among" other things, " that none but the general court has 



6Q 

power to make and establish laws, to elect and appoint officers, as governor, 
deputy governor, assistants, treasurer, secretary, captains, lieutenants, en- 
signs, or any of like moment ; or to remove such upon misueiutanor ; also, 
to presci-ibe their duties and powers; to raise money and taxes i and to dis- 
pose of lands." 1 Holmes, 27s. 

In tlie following year, (1635,) when it was apprehended that a general go- 
vernor would be sent out from England, under tlie special cominission to the 
archbishop of Canterbury, and ten other persons for governing tlie colonies, 
the clergymen of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, who were, at that t.me, 
considered as the fatliers of the commonwealth, were convened at Boston, 
and consulted by the civil magistrates. 

With tlie same spirit whicli lias always been manifested by the clergy of 
that state, in favor of civil liberty, and which contributed so largel) to the. 
establishment of the Independence of the colonies, tliey ujianimousl) agreed 
that if such a governor were sent, the colony ought not to accept him ; but to 
defend their Hgliis, if able ; "■ otherwise to avoid or protract.'" 1 JJolinet, 
■279. And see the commission to the archbisliop of Canterbui-y, ficc. 1 Hutch- 
inso7i's Hist. jMass. 440. Appendix, jYo i. 

And again, in ItJSS, when the king (Car. 1.) required them to surrender 
their patent, among other reasons why tliey beg to be excused, they say, itt 
their petition to the lords commissioners for foreign plantations, that " It our 
patent be taken from us, the common people here will conceive that his ma- 
jesty hath cast them off. and tkat iiidcoy tnej arp ffpfd t'l-nni tb.-ii- iillegiance 
and subjection, and thereripon will confederate themselves into a new govern' 
onent, for their necessary safety and subsistence, mhich will be of da?igeroua 
example to other plaiitations, and perilous to ourselves of incurring his ma- 
jesty's displeasure, which we would by all means avoid." 1 Hutchinson, 
142. Appendix, j\'o. 5. Mr. Hutchinson, in his historj^, vol. 1, p. 87, suppo- 
ses from what he knew of " their notions of civil subjection,'''' tliat if tliey 
had, at that time, been deprived of theii- patent, " They would have sought 
some vacuum domicilium in some part of the globe where they would, ac- 
cording to their own apprehensions, have been free from the control of ang 
Etiropean power. ' ' 

These facts show that Independence was in their thoughts, even at that 
early day. 

In January, 1638-9, the inhabitants of three towns on Connecticut river, 
Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield, finding themselves out of the limits 
of the Massachusetts' patent, formed tliemselves, by a voluntai-y compact, in- 
to a distinct commonwealth, and adopted a constitution of government, form- 
ed upon the solid foundation of tlie sole autliority of the people. 

This was independence in fact, although they acknowledged their allegi- 
ance to the king of England. This constitution and form of goverimient 
continued, with very little alteration, nearly to the present time. The first 
act of that government was a declaration of rights. 

In 1641, during the English commonwealth, some friends of the colony in 
England, advised an application to the parliament, soliciting favors which 
they thought would be granted ; " but," says governor Winthrop, " after 
consulting about it we declined the motion, for this consideration, that if we 
should put ourselves under the protection of parliament, we must then be sub' 
ject to all such laws as they should make, or at least, such as they might im- 
pose upon lis ; in which course, though tliey should intend our good yet it 
might prove very prejudicial to us." 

As an incident leading to independence we ought not to forget the union, 
in 1643, of the four colonies, Massachusetts, Plymoutli, Connecticut, and 
New Haven, under the title of " The United Colonies of JV<sw England." 
This was a league for their own defence, and managed by commissioners, 
who had power to declare war and make peace, and to regulate the genei-al 
concerns of tlie Union. 

All die colonies, before tlie reign of Charles II. except Maryland, settled 
a raociel of government for themselves. 1 Hiitchiitson, 92, note. The re- 



43 

f resentative brancti in most, if not in all of them, depended, for its aullioritv, 
upon the assiu'ances, contained in their charters, that they should enjoy all 
the rights, liberties, and privileges, of natural born subjects in England. This 
was the case also in Barbadoes, and the leeward islands. 1 Hutch. 92, 93, 
tiote. 

After the restoration, there is no instance of a colony settled without a re- 
presentation of the people ; nor any attempt to deprive the colonies of that 
privilege, except in the arbitrary reign of James II. I Hutch. 93. And the 
king, by his proclamation of 1763, offered the same terms to those who 
should settle in the countries then recently acquired. 

So much attached were the people to this democratic feature in their go- 
vernments, that although lord Say and Seale tempted the principal men of 
Massachusetts with tlie offer of making them and their heii*s nobles, and ab- 
solute governors of a new colony, not one could be found to follow him. 
1 Hutch. 92. 

That feature, however, would have had no value in their eyes, if parlia^- 
raent had possessed the right to legislate for them in all cases whatsoever. 

In the year 1561, the legislature of the colony of Massachusetts, made a 
declaration of their rights by charter, in which they say, " The governor, 
deputy governor, assistants, and select representatives, or deputies, hsyefull 
power and authority, both legislative and executive, for the government of all 
die people hei-e, whether inhabitants or strangers, both concerning ecclesias- 
tical and civil, without appeals; excepting laws repugnant to the laws of 
England." 1 Hutch. 455, Appendix, J\'o. 13. 

In their address to king Charles the second, in 1664, on the subject of the 
commission to colonel Nichols and others, they say, " And if the taking of 
this course should drive the people out of the country, (for to a coalition 
therein they will never come,) it will be hard to find anotlier people that will 
stay long, or stand imder any consideral)le burden in it." It is a great unhap- 
piness to be reduced to so hard a case as to have no other testimony of our 
subjection and loyalty offered us, but this, viz. to destroy our own being, 
which natm-e teacheth us to preserve, or to yield up our liberties, which are 
far dearer to us than our lives, and which, had we had any fears of being de- 
prived of, we had never wandered from om* fathers' houses, into these ends 
of die earth." 1 Hutch. 461, Appendix, J^o. 16. 

In 1670, and 1672, new acts of trade were passed by parliament, and cer- 
tain duties laid upon articles shipped from die colonies to other countries^' 
than England, which were to be collected by custom-house officers, appoint- 
ed by the commissioners of the customs in England. [See Stat. 22, and 23,. 
Car. 2. c. 26. and 25. Car. 2. c. 7.] But as the governors were still elected and 
paid by the people, and as tlie right of parliament, to pass those acts, was 
questioned, they were not rigorously enforced. The legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, in a letter to tlieir agent in England, declared them to be " an inva- 
sion of the rights, liberty, and propertj of the subjects of his majesty in the 
colony, they not being represented in parliament." But as his majesty had 
signified ids plcasm-e that they should be conformed to, " They had made 
provision by a law of the colony that they should be strictly attended to from 
time to time, although it greatly discouraged trade, and was a great damage' 
to his majesty's plantations." 

In the contest between Charles the second and the colony, respecting their 
charter, the latter maintained a steady, and, perhaps, we may say, a surly 
opposition to the views of the crown ; and, when die question was taken, in 
the general court, whether they should surrender their charter, or suffer the 
quo toarratito to issue, they decided, in concurrence M'ith the common senti- 
ment of the people, that " it -was better to die by other hands than theii 
own." 

This resolution was advised by the clergy, who, at that time, were consult- 
ed by the people in all their difficidties. The agents of the colony, in Eng- 
land, were instructed to make no concessions of any of the priyilege.s con- 
ferred upon the colony by its chartn-. 



64 

The conseqence was, that the writ of gwo warranto w as issued, and their 
patent cancelled. 

The new government, established for the colonies, tinder sii- Edmond An- 
dross, and otliers, was subverted by a revolution in Massachusetts, in 1689, 
before any certain account had arrived of the revolution in England. The old 
colonial government was i-einstated, and continued by the royal assent, until 
a, new charter was granted by William and Maiy, in 1692. 

This new charter introduced some changes, whicli affected, radically, the 
independence that had been so long practically enjoyed by die colony. 

The governor and other officers were no longer to be elected by the people, 
but to be appointed by the king. The governor was enabled to call, adjourn, 
prorogue, and dissolve the legislature, at pleasui-e. He had the appointment, 
solely, of all military officers; and, with the consent of the council, of all 
officers belonging to courts of justice. Other civil officers were elected by 
the two houses, but he had a negative ; and no act of government was valid 
without his consent. 

As early as 1692, the first colonial legislature, assembled under this new 
charter, passed an act, in the style of magna charta, in which, among other 
privih^ges, they declared, that " no aid, tax," &c. " should be laid," but by 
the consent of the governor, council, and representatives, of the people, 
assembled in general court." 

Although tliere is no evidence of a design, on the part of the mmistry, so 
eai-ly as 1696, of raising a revenue from the colonies, by taxation, yet, about 
that time., a pamphlet was published, recommending the laying of a pai-lia- 
mcntary tax upon one of them. This pamphlet was answered by two others, 
which totally denied tlie power of taxing the colonies, because they had no rep- 
resentation in parliament to give consent. And lord Camden, in his speech, in 
April, 1760, said, " The pamphlets against tax.ation were much read, and no 
answer was given to them; nor were men startled at the doctrine, as either 
new, or illegal, or derogatory to the rights of parliament." 1 Holmes, p. 33. 
In 1711, it was resolved by the assembly of New York, " That the impos- 
ing and levying any moneys upon her majesty's subjects in this colony, under 
any pretence or color, whatsoever, without their consent m general assembly, 
is a grievance and a violation, of the people's projierty." This resolution, 
however, although general in its terms, was, probaljly, directed only against 
the assumption of that power by the governor. JMarshaWs History of the 
Colonies, 207. 

In 1754, in consequence of the approaching French war, the British go- 
vernment recommended an union of the colonies for mutual defence. Dele- 
gates appointed by seven of tlie colonial governments, viz. Massachusetts, 
New Hampshire, Rliode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and 
Maryland, met in Albany ; and, on the fourth of July, agreed upon a plan 
of general government for the colonies, drawn up by Doctor Franklin. 2 
Holmes, 201. 

This government was to consist of a council to be chosen by the colonial 
assemblies, and a pi-esident to be appointed by the king ; and its powers 
were neai'ly as extensive as tliose of the present government of tlie United 
States. 

This plan, however, was i-ejected by tlie colonies, because it gave too much 
power to the president ; and it was not approved by the king, because it 
gave too much power to tlie people. 

Instead of this plan, the Britisli minister proposed a tax upon tlie colonies, 
to be paid into the British treasui-y, and to be drawn out and expended by 
the governors of the colonies, who viere to assemble widi one or tw o mem- 
hers of the respective provincial councils, and who were to meet, consult, 
and resolve upon the measures necessary for the common defence. 

This proposition, being entirely opposed to the prevailing opinions in the 
colonies, was not, at that time, furdier jji-essed. Jilm-dliall, 284. 

How far this convention and plan of government suggested the idea of tlie 
subsequent congress of 1774, or the conlederation of 1781, it is aot impor- 



65 

tant to enquire ; l>ut there is little doubt that the joint efforts of die colonies, 
and tlie success of their arms in the war of 1755, by bringing them to a bet- 
ter acquaintance witli each other, by developing their resources, and by in- 
spiring a martial spirit, and mutual confidence, led tlie way to their indepen- 
dence in 1776. 

In the same year, (1754) governor Shii'ley informed Dr. Franklin, who 
was then in Boston, of the profound secret, the great design of taxing the 
colonies by act of parliament. Dr. Franklin gave the governor a written an- 
swer, in which, among other arguments against it, he says: " It would be 
ti-eating them as conquered enemies, and not as free Britons, who hold it 
for tlieir undoubted right, not to be taxed but by their own consent given 
through their representatives." Political Disqiusitions, vol. 2. p. 276, 7, S, 
y, cited in JVovanglus, edition of 1810, p. 16. 

Whether the ministiy were discouraged or not, by Dr. Fi-anklin's remarks, 
the project was at tliat time, laid aside. 

{See Page IS,.) 
Note 3. — The whole letter was published in the Monthly Anthology, of 
May, 1807, p. 256, and is as follows: 

WORCESTEB, Oct. 12, 1755. 
Dear Sir : 

All that part .of creation which lies within our observation, is liable to 
change. Even mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted. If we look into 
histoiy, v/e shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings, and 
spreading tlieir influence, till tlie whole globe is subjected to tlieir sway. 
When tliey have reached the summit of grandeur, some minute and unsus- 
pected cause commonly effects their ruin, and the empire of the world is 
transferred to some other place. Immortal Rome was, at first, but an insig- 
nificant village, inhabited only by a few abandoned ruffians ; but, by degrees 
it rose to a stupendous height, and excelled, in arts and arms, all the nations 
that preceded it. 

But the demolition of Carthage (what one should think would have estab- 
lished it in supreme dominion) by removing all danger, suffered it to suik into 
debauchery, and made it, at length, an easy prey to barbarians. England, 
immediately upon this, began to increase (the particular and minute causes of 
which I am not historian enough to trace) in power and magnificence ; and is 
now the greatest nation upon the globe. Soon after the Reformation, a few 
people came over into this new world, for conscience' sake. Perhaps this 
apparently trivial incident may transfer the gi'eat seat of empire into America. 
It looks likely to me; for, if we can remove the turbulent Gallicks, our 
people, according to the exactest calculations, will, iu another century, be- 
come more numerous tlian England itself. Should this be the case, since 
we have, I may say, all tlie naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be 
easy to obtain the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all Em-ope 
will not be able to snbdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up tor 
ourselves, is to disunite us. Divide et impera — Keep us in distinct colonics ; 
and then, some great men in each colony, desiring the monarchy of the whole, 
tliey will dertroy each other's influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. 

Be not surprised tiiat I am turned politician. The whole town is niimersed in 
politics. Tiie interests of nations, and all the dira of war, make the subject of 
evpi'v conversation. I sit aud hear ; and, after having been led through a maze 
of sage ol)servations, I sometimes retire, and, by laying things together, form 
some refietitions Bleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries, you 
have ivad f.bove. Different employments and different objects may have drawn 
your thoughts other ways. I shall think wiyself happy if, in your turn, you 
communicate your lucubrations to me. I wrote you, some time since, and 
have waited, with impatience, for an answer, but have been disappointed. I 
hope that tlie lady, at B;i.rnstable, has not made you forget yom* friends. 
Frieadsiup, I take it, is one of the distinguishing glories of man ; and the 
creature that is insensible of its charms, though he may wear the sluine of 



66 

man, is unw ortliy of tlic character, lu this, perhaps, we bear a nearer re- 
semblance to uiiembodied inlelligencies, than in any thing else. From this I 
fxpcct to receive the chief happiness of my future life ; and am sorry that 
i'ortnne has thrown rue at such a distance from those of my friends who have 
the highest place in my aft'ections. 15ut thus it is ; and I must submit. But, I 
hope, ere lone, to return, and live in that happy familiarity that has, from 
earliest infancy, subsisted between yoiu'self and affectionate friend, 

JOHN ADAMS. 

Addressed to Mr. Natuan Wibb, at Braintree. 

(See Page 14.) 
N oxr 4. — Mr, Adams, in his preface to JVovanghia, (edition of 1819,) speak- 
ing of his friend Sewall, s.-tys: " To James Otis, who took a kind notice of us 
both, we constantly applied for advice, in any difficulty, and he would attend 
to us, advise us, and look into books for us, and point out authorities to us as 
'kindly as if we had been his pupils, or his sons." 

[See Page l^.) 

.Vote 5. — Mr. Eveiett, in a note to his "Address in Commemoration of 
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson" August 1, 1826, says: "The copy I 
have of this work, was printed by Almon, at London, in 1768, as a seque! 
10 some other political pieces, with the following title, and prcliminarj- 
note:" 

" The following dissertition, which was written at Boston, in New Eng- 
land, in the year 17G5, and then printed there in the Gazette, being very 
curious, and having connexion with this publication, it is thought proper to 
leprint it. The author is ssiid to have been Jeremy Gridley, Esq. attorney gen- 
.cral of the province of Massachusetts Bay, member of the general court, 
<:olonel of the first regiment of militia, president of the marine society, and 
;^randmasler of the freemasons. He died at Boston, Sept. 7, 1767. 
"A Uissertation 07i the Canon and Feudal Laio." 

This copy formerly belonged to Dr. Andrew Eliot, to whom it was pre- 
sented by Thomas Hollis. Directly above the title is written, apparently ii» 
Dr. A. Eliot's hand-writing, " The autiior of this dissertation is John Adams, 
l'>sq.;" and, at the foot of the page is the following note, in the same hand- 
writing, but mai'ked v ilh inverted commas, as a quotation, and signed T. H. 

" The dissertation on the canon and feudal law, is one of the very finest pro- 
iluetions ever seen from North America. By a letter from Boston, in New 
England, signed sui juris, inserted in that valuable newspaper, the Londou 
Chronicle, Jul}' 19, it should seem the writer of it happily yet lives. T. H." 

An edition of it was afterwards published in Philadelphia, by Robert Bell, 
in 17.S3, in a pamphlet, with lord Sheffield's observations on tlie commerce of 
the American Slates, and with the title of " An essay 07i canon and feudal 
laxt), by John Adams, Esq." 8cc. 

{See Page 2i.) 

Note f). — These essays were republished in Boston, in 1819, with a pre- 
face by Mr. Adams, and with his letters to Mr. Tudor and others. It is but 
justice to the late judge James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, to acknowledge that 
many of the arguments against the general authority of parliament to legis- 
late for the colonies, contained in Novanglus, had been published by him in a 
pamphlet, in August, 1774. That, however, is only one of tlie points discuss- 
ed in " JVovanglns." 

In addition to the many coincidencies which have been noticed in (he lives 
of Mr. Adams and Mv. .lefferson, it may be observed, that while Mr. Jeffer- 
son was writing, in \^irginia, his " Summary of tlie rights of British America," 
Mr. Adams was vindicating those rights in the most masterly manner, in Mas- 
sachusetts ; and while Mr. Jefferson, in America, was exalting the character 
of liis couiitry, by his notes on Virginia, written in answer to queries propound- 



67 

ed by La Fayette, Mr. Adams, in Holland, m as effecting the same object, by 
his letters in answer to the queries of Mr. Kalkoeu. 

(See Paffe IC).) 

Note 7. — This committee was apj)ointed by congress, to ascertain whether 
lord Howe had any and what authority to treat with any persons authorized 
by congress for that purpose ; and to jicar his propositions. Lord Huwe had 
setit an officer as a Iiostage, but tliey mapumimously took him with t'nem. 
They were received with an imposing display of military force ; were treated 
politely, but not acknowledged in any other cliaracter than that of JsriUsh 
Kuhjects; a character which tliey, of course, did not admit. It is unnecessary 
therefore, to add, that nothing restdted from the conference. 

It is said by Mr. Spraguc, in a note to liis eulogy ou Adams and Jefferson, 
that during the time that Mr. Adams was in congress, he served on ninety com- 
mittees, being twice as many as any other member, except Kicliard Heniy 
Lee, and Samuel Adams ; and although it was the policy to put \'irgiiiiu 
generally at the head, he was chairman of twenty-five committees. 

(See Page ^7.) 
Note 8.— In a letter to Mr. R. H. Lee, dated " Passy, Feb. 13, irrO,'^ Mr. 
Adams says, " Congress have done wisely, in my poor opinion, in confiding 
their political affairs, at this court, to one ; but tiien I tliink it will be neces- 
saiy to appoint consuls, or other per.sons, to manage mai-itime .ind commer- 
cial affairs, which I pi-esume they moan to do. The care of these things is 
inconsistent with your minister's character, and tlie l)urden of them is too 
mighty for his forces." "In the sincerity of my heart, I assm-c you tiiut no 
intelligence I ever heard, relieved my mind from a greater burden, than that 
which informed me I was a private citizen." 

{See Page iS).) 

[Note 9.] Philadelpuia, JSTov. 15, 1775. 

Dkar Sin ; 

The course of events natarally turns the thouglits of gentlemen to the sub- 
jects of legislation and jurisprudence ; and it is a curious problem, w hat fornx 
of government is most readily and easily adopted by a colony upon a sudden 
emergency. Nature and experience have already pointed out the solution of 
this problem in the choice of conventions and committees of safety. Notliing 
is wanting, in addition to these, to make a complete government, but the 
appointment of mfigistrates for tl»e due administration of justice. 

Taking natiu-e and experience for my guide, I have made the following 
sketch, which may be varied in any one particular an infinite number of ways, 
so as to accommodate it to tlie different genius, temper, principles, auil even 
prejudices, of different people. 

A legislative, an executive, and a judicial power, comprehend the whole 
of what is meant and understood by government. It is by the balancing each 
of these powers against tlie other two, that the effort in human nature towards 
tyranny, can alone be checked and restrained, and any degree of freedom 
■preserved in the constitution. 

Let a full and free I'epresentation of the people be chosen for an house of 
commons. 

Let the house choose by ballot, twelve, sixteen, twenty-four, or twenty- 
eight persons, either members of the house, or from the people at large, as 
die electors please, for a council. 

Let the house and council, by joint ballot, choose a governor annually, 
triennially, or septenniallv, as you will. 

Let the governor, council, and house, he each a distinct and independent 
branch of the legislature, and have a negative on all laws. 

Let the lieutenant governor, secretary, treasurer, commissary, attorney- 
general, and solicitor-general, be chosen aiuiually, by joint ballot of both 
houses. 



GS 

l-pt the "ovenior, witli seven counciljors, he a quorum. 

Let all ofRcei-s and magistrates, civil and military, be nominated and ap- 
pointed by the sjfovernor, by and with the advice and consent of his council. 

Let no oflicer l)e appointed but at a general council, and let notice be given 
to all the councillors, seven days, at least, before a general council. 

Let the judges, at least of the supreme court, be incapacitated, by law, 
from holding any share of the legislative power; let their commissions be 
diu'hig good behaviour, and their salaries ascertained and established bylaw. 

Let the governor have the command of the army, the militia, forts, &c. 

Let the colony have a seal, and affix it to all commissions. 

In this way, a single month is sufficient, without the least convulsion, or 
even animosity, to accomplish a total revolution in the government of a co- 
lony._ 

If it is thought more beneficial, a law may be made by this new legislature, 
leaving to the people, at large, the privilege of choosing their governor and 
councillors annually, as soon as affairs get into a more quiet com'se. 

In adopting a plan in some respects similar to this, human nature would 
appear in its proper glory, asserting its own real dignity, pulling down tyran- 
nies at a single exertion, and erecting such new fabrics, as it thinks best cal- 
culated to promote its happiness. 

As you was last evening polite enough to ask me for this model, if such a 
trifle will be of any service to you, or any gratification of curiosity, hex-c you 
have it, from, sir, your friend and humble servant, 

JOHN ADAMS. 
Richard Henry Lee, Esq. 
Present. 

{See Page i^.) 
Note 10. — In the same woi'k, (essay on canon and feudal law,) he tlius el- 
oquently calls upon his countrymen to tin-n their thoughts to the oi-igin of 
government: " IjCt us dare to read, think, speak, and write. Let every 
order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate their 
resolution. Let them all become attentive to the grounds and prhicifiks of 
■^■ovemment, ecclesiastical and civil. Let us study the law of nature ; search 
into the sl>irit of the British constitution; read the histories of ancient ages; 
"■ontemplate the gi-eat examples of Greece and Rome; set before us the 
conduct of our British ancestors, who have defended, for us, the inher- 
ent rights of mankind against foreign and domestic tyrants and usurpers ; 
against arbitrary kings and cruel priests ; in short, against the gates of earth 
and hell. Let us read and recollect, and impress upon our souls, the views 
and ends of our own immediate forefathers, in exchanging their native conn- 
try for a di'cary, inhospitable wilderness. Let us examine into the nature of 
that power, and the cruelty of that oppression, which drove them from their 
homes. Recollect their amazing fortitude, their hitler sufferings." "Re- 
collect the civil and religious principles, and hopes, and exjiectations, which 
< onstantly supported and carried them through all hardships with patience 
and resignation. Let us recollect it was Ubei'tii ; the hope of liberty for them- 
selves, and us, and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers and 
trials. In such researches as these, let us all, in our several departments, 
cheerfully engage ; but especially the proper patrons and supporters of law, 
learning, and religion.^'' 

After calling upon the piilfnt, in strong and appropriate language, to aid 
in the great work, he thus addresses tlie bar : 

" Let the bar proclaim " the laws, the rights, the generous jilan of power,'''' 
delivered down from remote antiquity ; inform the world of ttie mighty strug- 
gles and numberless sacrifices, made by oi\r ancestors, in tht; defence of free- 
dom. Let it b(» known that Jiritish liberties arc not the grants of princes, or 
j>arliaments ; hut original rights, conditions of original contracts, co-equal 
■Loilh prerogative, and co-eval with go^ienuuenl. That many of our riglits 



69 

are inherent and essential, agreed on as maxims, and established as prelimina- 
ries, even before a parliament existed. Let them search for the foundation 
of tlie British laws and government in the frame ofhumaji nature, in the con- 
stitution of the intellectual and moral world. There let us see that truth, 
liberty, ju.^tice, and benevolence are its everlasting basis." 

After calling upon the colleges in tlie same animated style, he proceeds ; 

" In a word, let every sluice of linowledge be opened and set a flowing. 
The encroachments upon liberty in the reigns of the first James, and the first 
Charles, by turning the general attention of learned men to government, are 
said to have produced the greatest number of consummate statesmen which 
has ever been seen in any age or nation. The Brookes, Hamdens, Falk- 
lands, Vanes, Miltons, Nedhams, Harringtons, Nevilles, Sydneys, Lockes, 
are all said to have owed their eminence, in political knowledge, to the 
tyrannies of those reigns. The prospect now before us, in America, ought 
in the same manner to engage the attention of every man of learning to mai- 
lers of power and right, that we may be neither led nor driven, blindfolded, 
to ii-retrievable destruction." 

This little tract is now so rare, and so well worthy of preservation, that 
any printer who would republish it would confer a benefit upon the country. 
It would make a pamphlet of about 40 pages. 

{See Page 5(i.) 

Note 11. — ^I have not been able to find this letter. It is, probably, that 
which Mr. Adams alludes to in his letter to Mr. Perley, published in the 
Boston Patriot, of 13th of May, 1809, when he says: " In January, 1776, I 
printed my opinion of a proper form of government under the title of 
" Thoughts on Government, in a letter from a gentleman to his friend." 

It was published by Mr. R. H. Lee, and printed by Dunlap, in Philadel- 
phia, in January, or February, 1770. It was also published by Thomas, in 
his Massachusetts Spy, and there attributed to Mr. Jefferson, Being applied 
to, many years afterwards, by a printer, Mr. Adams gave permission to re- 
print it, with Awname, who wrote it, and that of Mr. Wythe, to whom it was 
written. JYlr, Adams'' s letter to Cunningham, JVov. 28, 1803. 

{See Page 55.) 

Note 12. — ^" The men of letters in France," Mr. Adams said, " are wisely 
i-eforming one feudal system ; but may they not wvwisely lay the foundation 
(tf another? A legislature in one assembly can have no other termination than 
in civil dissention, feudal anarchy, or simple monarchy. The best apology 
that can be made for their fresh attempt of sovereignty, in one assembly , (an 
idea, at least as ancient in France as Stephen Boetius) is, that it is only intend- 
ed to be momentary. If a senate had been proposed, it must have been formed, 
most probably, of princes of tlie blood, cardinals, archbishops, dukes, and 
marquisses ; and, all these together, would have obstructed the progress of 
the reformation in religion and government, and procured an abortion of the 
regeneration of France. 

Pennsylvania established lier single assembly in 1776, upon the same prin- 
ciple. An apprehension that the proprietary and quaker interests would pre- 
vail to the election of characters disaffected to the American cause, finally^ 
preponderated against two legislative councils. Pennsylvania, and Georgia, 
who followed her example, liave found, by experience, the necessity of a 
change ; and France, l)y the same infallible progress of reasoning, will dis- 
discover the same necessity — Happy, indeed, if the experiment shall not cost 
her more dear .'" 

The " Discourses on Davila" contain a profound analysis of human pas- 
sions and motives, well wortliy of the deep attention of the ^^tftesman. They 
were collected and republislied in a pamphlet, but are now out of print. 



70 

(See Page 57.) 
[Note 13.] In Convevtiok, J^'ov. 15, 18^0. 

Whereas, the honorable John Adams, a member of this convention, and 
elected the president thereof, has, for more than half a century, devoted the 
great powers of his mind, and his profound wisdom and learning, to the ser- 
vice of his country, and of mankind : 

In fearlessly vindicating the rights of the North American provinces against 
the usurpations and encroachments of the superintendent govei-nment : 

In difmsing a knowledge of the principles of civil liberty among his fel- 
low subjects, and exciting them to a firm and resolute defence of the privi- 
leges of freemen : 

In early conceiving, asserting, and maintaining, the justice and practica- 
bility of establishing the Independence of the United States of America : 

In giving the powerful aid of his political knowledge in the formation of the 
constitution of this his native state ; which constitution became, in a great 
measure, the model of those which were subsequently formed : 

In conciliating the favor of foreign powers, and obtaining their countenance 
and support in the arduous struggle for Independence : 

In negotiating the treaty of peace, which secured forever the sovereignty 
of the United States, and in defeating all attempts to prevent it ; and espe- 
cially, in preserving, in that treaty, the vital interest of the New England 
states : 

In demonstrating to the world, in his defence of the constitutions of the 
several Unit d States, the contested principle, since admitted as an axiom, 
that checks and balances in legislative power, are essential to true liberty : 

In devoting his time and talents to the service of the nation, in the high and 
important trusts of vice-president, and president of the United States : and 
lastly, in passing an honorable old age, in dignified retirement, in the prac- 
tice of all the domestic virtues ; thus exhibiting to his countrymen, and to 
posterity, an example of true greatness of mind, and of genuine pati-iotisra : 

Therefore Resolved, That the members of this convention, representing 
£he people of Massachusetts, do joyftJly avail themselves of this opportuni- 
ty to testify their respect and gratitude to this eminent patriot and statesman, 
for the great services rendered by him to his countiy ; and theii- high gratifi- 
cation uiat, at this late period of life, he is permitted by Divine Proi-idence, 
to assist them with his counsel in revising the constitution which, forty years 
ago, his wisdom and prudence assisted to form. 

Resolved, That a committee of twelve be appomted by the chair to com- 
municate this proceeding to the Hon. Johs Adams, to inform him of his 
election to preside in this body, and to introduee him to the chair of this 
Coav«ntioB. 



The foUomng neat epitaph was hastily written by a 
triend, who has kindly permitted it to adorn this sketch. 

SUB HOC MARMORE 
COtmiTM SUNT HELiaOT^, PATRIJB FATRfS, 

JOHANNIS ADAMS; 

imperii iniqui hostis, libertatis amici. 

Inter inclytos jurum gentium assertores, 

celeberrimus floruit. 

Oratioue facundus, 

ingenio maximus, doctrina instructus, 

tenebras ignorantise, cum scriptis tiim verbis, 

dissipavit ; 

prxsidia, salutis publicse, 

prseceptis suis, instituit ; et libertatem, 

qme, virtute eorum et sang^ne patrabatiir, 

eandem, in perpetuum, sustentare, 

civjs suos, erudivit 

Ex privato natus, cum ingenti audacia, 

Dominationem Britannicam, fortiter ac strenue, propulsaril': 

et consiliis et gestis, multum prsevaluit, 

ex servitio, patriam eximere. 

Gives, beneficiorum memores, 

amplissimis honoribus eum auxerunt ; 

multis magistratibus transitis, 

ad splendidissima fastigia imperii, pervenit. 

Prseses reipub. Araer. delectus fuit 

rv non. Mar. mdcclxxxxtii. 

Dignitas, valde nobilior, diademate regum. 

quia, nee genere, nee armis, 

nee auro, nee blanditiis, 

adepta, 

sea, ex merita gratia civium liherorum. 

Nee minus fuiv vita utilis, 

quim mors portentosa ; 

obiit IV non. Jul. mdcccxxvi, 

(jE. txxxxr.) 

Hie natali libertatis nostras, et eodem die decessus^ soclT sui, 

JEFFERSONI illustris; 

quo die, 

quinquaginta annis exactis, 

ipse, et socius prseclarus, in Senatu Americano, 

jjretiocissimaro chartam, emancipationis nostrse, ex jugo Britanaico, 

( hie, auctor consultus, ille, particeps, et audax adjutor scripturse,) 

sustinuerunt, et vindicaverunt. 

Sic socii in vita, 

socii in morte. 

Concursus mirabilis ! Nisi divinitiis esset, 

pro signo, omnibus terrarum gentibus, 

libertatem mortalium, 

charam esse 

DEO. 



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